


Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and the Chamber of Secrets

by m00n_river



Series: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Rewritten [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Boys In Love, Canon Rewrite, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Good Slytherins, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Rivalry, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets, Hogwarts Era, Hogwarts Second Year, Jealous Harry, Light Angst, Lucius Malfoy in Azkaban, M/M, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, POV Alternating, POV Draco Malfoy, POV Harry, POV Harry Potter, POV Remus Lupin, POV Sirius Black, POV Third Person, Powerful Draco Malfoy, Powerful Harry, Powerful Harry Potter, Prophecy, Protective Draco Malfoy, Protective Harry Potter, Quidditch, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin Raise Draco Malfoy, Sirius Black as Padfoot, Slytherin Harry Potter, Slytherin Pride, The Sorting Hat, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, Werewolf Remus Lupin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 24,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25764112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m00n_river/pseuds/m00n_river
Summary: Harry is back for another year at Hogwarts when he starts noticing strange things...
Relationships: (maybe just a little bit in the background) Marcus Flint/Oliver Wood, Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, Rewritten [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847842
Comments: 86
Kudos: 335





	1. Chapter One

The first three weeks of Summer were dreadful for Harry. Vernon was on edge the whole time, terrified of Harry’s newfound powers and the big ‘M’ word which had caused quite a stir at breakfast once. And it was only because Harry had used it to try and get Dudley to have some decent manners and say the big ‘P’ word. Still, it would all be over soon for in only a few minutes, Sirius would be arriving to pick him up for three weeks of summer fun, and Harry couldn’t be more excited. He didn’t know how Sirius would arrive, dramatically probably. In his letters, he repeated the promise that he would place a curse on Vernon the second he arrived, one that would probably involve diarrhoea or excessive BO. Or at least that was what he said, his tone when he promised this to Harry at Kings Cross was deadly. If Hagrid could give Dudley a tail, God knows what Sirius could do.

Harry was sitting in the hallway on his suitcase, patiently waiting for his godfather and trying to drown out the excessive whining of Vernon and Petunia who were speculating about what this man would look like. Their gossip was put on hold, however, by the sound of an engine revving outside. Harry slammed the door open and gasped at the glorious sight of his Pads on the motorcycle, taking off his helmet. 

“Pads!” 

“Harry!” They ran towards each other and embraced in a tight bear hug. “Oh, I missed you, kid. And so did Draco, we’ve been worried sick!” 

“How’s Moony? Did the last transformation go okay?” Harry craned his neck to survey his godfather’s face. 

“Oh he’s fine, like always. Might be a bit weak when you get to see him, but he’ll recover.” 

“And how’s Draco? Did he get his birthday present?” 

“Yes, he did, he wouldn’t stop talking about it, actually!” A light cough drew their attention to the two figures standing in the doorway of Privet Drive. Petunia was nervously glancing at her surroundings, checking for anything remotely magical or a judgemental neighbour, but Vernon was only a pale pink on the scale of Vernon rage. For the most part, he just looked confused. As though he had expected a lot more than just a biker. Harry was tempted to tell him that it flew but decided that some surprises could wait. Sirius separated himself from Harry and approached them like an animal surveying its prey. 

“Hello, Vernon, Petunia.” His voice was like shards of ice, cold and menacing. “I wanted to tell you in person, if Harry is amenable, you will never need to see him again.” Harry’s eyes widened and filled with tears. It was more than he could have hoped for, to say goodbye to his current life in exchange for a better one. He couldn’t speak, or express how happy he was, so just stared as the Dursleys gave Harry curt nods of goodbye. They couldn’t seem to find words either. All Harry could do was raise a hand and fitfully twitch it in some sort of resemblance of a wave. Sirius had turned back to him now, eyes wary. “Are you alright, Harry? Would you like that?” There were tears of pure joy streaming down Harry’s face. 

“Yes… yes… thank you.” It was too much, it was all too much. Harry was gasping for air. It was as though somebody had been slowly crushing his lungs with an iron clamp and it had finally loosened. As though he could finally breathe real air again. Sirius had crushed him in another hug and Harry was unashamedly sobbing into his chest as he rubbed his back. 

“You’ll be okay, Harry, they’re gone now. Forever. You have seen the last of them.” There were not enough words to describe how happy Harry was. There would come a day where Harry was willing to talk about everything the Dursleys did to him, but at that moment, Harry wanted nothing more than to just pretend that he had been a part of Draco’s family since the beginning. Sirius pulled away and gave him a quick once over before shrinking his trunk and putting it in the tiny storage compartment on his bike. Harry sat himself comfortably in the sidecar with Hedwig slotted between his knees and Sirius revved the engine and took off from the ground. The last memory that Harry would ever have of the Dursleys was one that he would treasure forever: their horrified faces when Sirius spelled out the words ‘Fuck you’ in the sky with his wand and sailed him away on his flying motorbike. 


	2. Chapter Two

“HARRY!” Draco was in the front garden of his house, waiting for Pads to arrive with Harry. It had been too long, three weeks was the longest the pair had been separated since they met, and letters didn’t quite cover it. The second Draco saw Harry’s face, he charged forward and wrapped him in a hug, nearly knocking the boy off his feet.

“Draco!” Harry breathed. “I’ve missed you so much!” They stayed together until he moved on to Remus who returned the hug wholeheartedly. Draco watched as his parents gave each other a look that signified a silent question being asked and then answered. 

“What is it?” Pads patted him on the shoulder, signalling that they would talk about it later, but at that moment Draco didn’t care. Harry was finally back and they were going to spend the whole year together. 

The group bundled into the house where they enjoyed a wonderful Summer lunch, afterwards, Draco showed Harry the broom that he had gotten for his birthday, a Nimbus 2000, and they took it in turns playing with it in the garden until they were called in for dinner. At dinner, Remus and Sirius spoke to both Harry and Draco about the plans from then on. 

“So, Harry, you will be staying with us for the rest of the holiday and, if you want to, you can stay with us over Christmas.” said Remus. “Now, we promise you that, no matter what, you will never go back to the Dursleys, do you understand?” Draco was worried. This sounded like a very serious discussion, he had known the Dursleys were bad, but he hadn’t realised exactly _how_ bad. 

“Thank you. You have no idea how happy I am.” He watched as Harry’s eyes filled with joyful tears and reached out his hand, placing it on his knee, warm and steady. The other boy seemed to appreciate it because he covered it with his own. 

“Here comes the tricky part, due to-” he coughed. “circumstances, you cannot stay with us on every holiday-” Sirius interrupted. 

“No matter how much we want you to.” His voice was low and dangerous, it was clear that he wasn’t okay with Harry being out of his sight. 

When Harry spoke, is was small and shaky. 

“Where will I go then?” 

“We don’t quite know yet.” Moony’s features were drawn and distant, something he did when he was trying not to worry people with his emotions. He started listing families who may take Harry in but Draco was still focused on the word ‘circumstances’. He interrupted his father, something he never did, distressed. 

“Wait, why can’t Harry stay with us?” His parents stilled. They avoided his eye contact and were breathing heavily. It took a while before they replied. 

“Legal things, it’s complicated.” Draco could tell that they were lying, but he felt that he would prefer that explanation than the one that they were hiding. ‘Legal things’ was good enough for him. 

The boys were excused from dinner and they retired to Draco’s bedroom, where Harry would be staying, and they had one of their under-the-covers conversations. 

“Are you okay, Harry?” said Draco “Are you happy?” 

“Very. It feels very good to know that I don’t have to see them again.” The look on Harry’s face was heartbreaking. For Draco, the boy symbolised hope and beauty. It hurt him to know that there were people who were anything but kind to him. 

What Draco did then was something that he couldn’t explain. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Harry’s in a chaste kiss. The other boy didn’t protest, he blushed and grinned. They didn’t talk about it. They didn’t need to. 

*** 

Remus checked that Harry and Draco were asleep before firecalling Dumbledore. He and Sirius had been keeping in touch with the older wizard with weekly meetings. The man stepped into their sitting room, found a seat on the armchair nearest the fireplace and turned to Remus and Sirius, who were on the adjacent sofa, with expectant looks. 

“How is Harry?” He said innocently. 

“Better now that he’s not living with those disgusting people you put him with, Dumbledore.” Sirius growled, glaring daggers at the man. 

“Yes, speaking of, we had to obliviate some Muggles in the area because of your little display-” 

“Now is NOT the time." he roared. "There is no reason to keep a child in an abusive home, I didn’t realise before but I do now. I had a rough upbringing, as you know, as you _ignored_ , and I didn’t want to imagine what Harry was going through.” He breathed, in and out, Remus’s hand on his shoulder. “But, seeing his face when I told him he would never have to see them again...it just... I can’t understand what went through your mind. It’s sick.” Sirius finally stopped. Remus could see the horrors he had been through flicking across his mind, Harry’s face being a constant. He could only imagine what the poor boy’s face had looked like, but judging from Sirius’s reaction, it wasn’t good. 

Nobody spoke for a really long time. Nobody was going to defend Dumbledore, not even Dumbledore himself. Remus couldn’t see anything good in him anymore. He was no longer the twinkle-eyed headmaster who made his childhood so magical, no longer the man who helped him and didn’t shun him for his disease. Nothing could excuse his actions, Remus didn’t even want to try. Finally, he broke the silence, an edge to his voice that he used but rarely. 

“I understand that Draco and Harry are going to develop, and grow stronger and that they cannot be kept in close quarters all year long. I really do. But Harry isn’t going back there, we promised him that. I have a suggestion.” 

It made Remus sad that Dumbledore now had to make calls as to who would be going where. It made him feel sad that the boys were being treated like dangerous, cursed objects. Weapons. But, to Dumbledore, that was all they were.


	3. Chapter Three

There was a fight in Diagon Alley. One between Arthur Weasly and Vincent Crabbe Sr. of all people. Draco giggled at the picture of the two men at each other’s throats, being pulled apart by other shoppers, in the Daily Prophet. It was quite a ridiculous sight. Seeing the pale faces of Crabbe and Goyle in the background, completely baffled by it, was the icing on the cake.

He was just about to call Harry in to look at it, when he heard the other boy shriek from his bedroom. 

“Harry?” Draco rushed up the stairs and into his room, expecting to find Harry staring down a particularly large spider, not a house elf. “Harry, what’s a house elf doing in here?” 

“That’s what it’s called?” The elf in question was nervously darting his eyes between the two boys, who were both glaring at it with matching expressions of bafflement. It was Draco who pulled himself together first. 

“Hello, my name is Draco, what’s yours?” 

“Dobby, sir. You is Draco Malfoy, is you not, sir?” 

“Yes. How did you know?” Draco joined Harry on his bed. 

“Dobby used to work for Malfoy family.” 

“Why don’t you sit down, Dobby?” said Harry, Draco didn’t have time to tell him that the elf wouldn’t take well to that, because he had already started banging his head repeatedly against the leg of Draco’s desk. 

“Stop! Dobby stop!” He tried to pry the creature away from it, but it only seemed to spur him on. That was until Remus and Sirius barged into the room. 

“Why is there a house elf in here?” Sirius exclaimed, running forward to pick it up and hoist it into his arms. “Who are you?” 

The elf was beginning to panic. 

“I is Dobby, sir. You is Sirius Black, sir?” Draco’s father rolled his eyes. 

“Yes, I am. What are you doing here?” 

“I is here for Harry Potter, sir.” Finally, Sirius put Dobby down on the desk chair and sunk down to his level, Remus was still in the doorway, politely bewildered, and Harry just looked scared, so Draco put his arm around him. “Dobby is here to tell you all that Harry Potter should not be going to Hogwarts this year, sir.” 

“Why?” 

“It is dangerous, sir. Dobby is hearing about awful plan.” Sirius turned his head back to Remus, who now crouched by the chair and looked Dobby dead in his huge, glassy eyes. 

“How do you know about this plan, Dobby?” His voice was a lot softer than his husband’s. 

“I cannot be telling yous. I is not meant to be here.” The elf then tried to start hitting his head against the desk then, by Sirius grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him up again. 

“Stop punishing yourself.” said Pads. “Can you tell us any more than what you have told us?” Dobby shook his head, beyond words. “Go home, then, and _don’t_ punish yourself for anything you have told us.” 

“You have been very brave, Dobby.” Remus chimed in, just before Dobby apparated with a loud CRACK. The moment he was gone, both of the men turned to Draco and Harry. 

“Go have breakfast, boys, we’re going to firecall Dumbledore.” 

*** 

“Dumbledore,” Sirius started, fingers pinched over the bridge of his nose. “I am sick of yelling at you, but I just want you to assure me that you don’t know of any danger that may befall Harry, or Draco for that matter, this year.” The old wizard stood up from the chair behind his desk, 

“I know of no danger, but I will tell you the second I do.” 

“I will hold you to that.” 

“I hope you do.” With that, Remus and Sirius left, hoping beyond hope that Dumbledore was right. 

*** 

Remus, Sirius, Harry and Draco were all standing at King Cross station, bags in hand, ready to pass through the wall to platform 9¾ on the 1st of September. Remus passed through the wall with Sirius and their luggage, leaving Harry and Draco to charge after them. 

“Okay. On three.” 

“One.” 

“Two.” 

“THREE” They both yelled as they ran for the wall, only to find themselves sprawled on the floor, sporting nose injuries from their faces colliding with the stone. Draco held up his hand and gingerly touched his nose, before holding it out for inspection. 

“ _I’m bleeding!_ ” He cried, hysterically. 

“You’re not bleeding.” The boy tilted his head back as the dark haired boy looked closer. “You’re still not bleeding.” 

“I thought maybe…just a little bit” He trailed off quietly before coming to his senses and realising that the wall was now completely solid. A Muggle policeman walked up to them with a questioning look. 

“What’s going on here?” 

“Sorry, we were just playing around and we fell.” Harry was quick with the lie, and it seemed to satisfy the man because he walked away, leaving them alone. They got to their feet and looked at each other in confusion. 

“What do we do now?” asked Harry. 

“I suppose we should just wait?” 

“We’ll miss the train! And how are your parents going to get back?” 

Draco sighed in exasperation and rolled his eyes in a classically Draco way. “Well, what do you suggest we do, Harry?” 

Harry hesitated before he answered, knowing that his suggestion was a crazy one. “Do you know how to ride your dad’s motorbike?” 


	4. Chapter Four

“Harry, I think this is the worst idea you’ve ever had.” said Draco, as he nervously seated himself on the bike.

“Nonsense, Draco, this is an adventure.” Harry was sitting in the sidecar instead, goggles on, looking like some kind of crazed person on a mission. 

Draco slipped on his father’s helmet before realising that it was ten sizes too big for him. He then surveyed the controls that he had to work with. Sirius had taught Draco to ride it when he was nine, just basic controls and he would only let him fly as high as two meters. He also didn’t know where Hogwarts was, geographically. He was aware that it was in Scotland, and he was aware of where Scotland was, but he didn’t know how in hell he was supposed to get there. “I think we’ve had enough adventures.” 

“Never.” Harry was watching him with the same wide-eyed adoration that he wore whenever Draco did something to impress him, or was anticipating that Draco would do something to impress him. The look that Draco could never resist. He sighed, pressed the button that turned the thing invisible for Muggles and started the engine. 

“Fine. But hold tight.” The machine rose unsteadily but Draco kept his head on. So long as he stayed calm, he was sure that he could figure it out. 

*** 

It was actually going pretty well. They decided to follow the railway track that the Hogwarts Express would be running on from a distance. It was difficult to talk, but Draco welcomed the peace. Being with Harry was usually so chaotic, he liked the fact that they were comfortable enough with each other that they didn’t need to constantly be talking. That silence could be comfortable rather than uncomfortable. 

About forty minutes into the journey, Draco felt the disillusionment charms falter and fall off. He screamed over the engine to Harry, “We’re not invisible anymore!” 

“Does that mean that there are people down there seeing two twelve-year-olds on a flying motorcycle?” 

Draco couldn’t help it when a laugh escaped his lips at the incredulity of his situation. “Yeah, I think there are!” Harry’s taste for adventure was never something that he understood, but being up in the sky, blatantly breaking the rules, tempting death itself, was the most liberated he had felt in years. Maybe ever. He allowed the wind to whip in his face as he grinned. “This is incredible.” 

“You’re incredible.” Draco took his eyes off the world for a moment to lock eyes with Harry, who was looking sheepish. “I’m sorry, that came out of nowhere. You just look really pretty - handsome - whatever.” He blushed deeper and Draco’s breath caught in his throat. 

“Thank you.” He didn’t have time, however, to revel in Harry because his distraction caused him to sink closer to the rails. There was a rumbling behind them, which they soon determined to be the Hogwarts Express, hot on their heels. 

They screamed. Draco accelerated with all of his might and managed to raise the bike high enough to escape the train. 

“Oh my god!” Harry screamed. “That was the train!” 

“Yeah! No shit!” He was panting, desperately trying to keep his eyes on the path ahead. “Harry! This was such a bad idea. Why did we think this was a good idea?” Both boys were still screaming over the noise of the engine. 

“What happened to you thinking this was incredible?” 

“What happened to you trying to stay alive?” 

“I didn’t have anything to live for before I met you so I never cared about death.” 

Draco didn’t have anything to say to that, so he didn’t. For a while. After a lot of thinking in contemplative silence, he could finally come up with something to say. 

“I know you’re not used to people caring about your life, but don’t die on me, Harry. I couldn’t handle it.” 

Draco could see Harry nodding in the sidecar. Neither of them said anything else until they landed on Hogwarts grounds, on which they were greeted with a group of Professors with thunderous expressions on their faces, and Draco’s parents, equally, if not more, furious. The boys shared a nervous look and took each other’s hands for support. 

“Hey, dad.” Said Draco, innocently. 

“Don’t ‘Hey, dad’ me.” Sirius’s voice was as cold as ice, a voice that Draco had never heard his dad use before. It made his lower lip tremble and his eyes prickle with tears. 

“I’m so sorry, dad, the entrance was sealed off and we didn’t know what to do, I know it was unsafe I’m so, so sorry.” Draco rambled, now on the verge of sobbing. Remus looked like he wanted to reach out and give him a hug, but was restraining himself. Instead, he pried a paper out of Snape’s clenched fist and showed them the headline. 

_**FLYING MOTORCYCLE MYSTIFIES MUGGLES**_

“Oh no.” 

Draco chanced a glance at Snape’s face, it was beyond rage. He and Harry would be lucky if they got off with a year’s detention, they would probably be expelled. Although, they didn’t exactly break any Hogwarts rules. Technically, the school year hadn’t started yet, so no one could punish them. Really, it was their fault for sealing the platform off too quickly. Draco did his best to repeat all of this for the crowd, but was met only with even darker expressions. 

“Look, I’m sorry.” Harry piped up. “It was my fault, I persuaded Draco to do it, I should have been more responsible.” Draco whipped his head around to Harry’s and stared at him in bewilderment. Why was he putting himself on the line? Maybe he thinks that he’s got some kind of pass because he saved the school for Voldemort last year? 

Sirius seemed to be debating punishment of his godson, probably putting the whole thing in perspective, excusing him because of his hideous upbringing seemed like it would be fair. But Snape beat him to it. 

“You have both been very foolish.” He swiped his greasy hair back from his forehead before continuing. “However, you have caused no damage to the grounds, thanks to your driving skills, so I can’t give you a punishment. Your fathers, Draco, will decide what to do.” 

Remus stepped forward. “Boys, you should have waited for us, we could have apparated you there or taken you on the bike, you were both very silly and you could have gotten yourselves killed.” He was speaking in a calm voice, most likely for Harry’s benefit, but was trembling slightly with irritation. “I don’t know quite how to express this to you two, but you seem to have the survival instincts of a suicidal chipmunk. And that isn’t good at all, considering only last year Harry had to take on a fully grown Defense teacher with a homicidal maniac acting as a succubus on the back of his head with no supervision or help from ANY teachers. Please, I am begging you, try to stay safe this year. Don’t do dumb things, don’t go looking for trouble, and don’t try to save the school again. The future is unclear, especially for you two, and I don’t want anything happening to you. Have I made myself clear?” 

“Yes, dad.” 

“Yes, sir.” 


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite a short chapter - sorry. I think the next one is longer. I just baked cookies so imagine I am handing one out to each of you! Thank you for keeping up with the story - I'm really proud of how it's turning out.

They didn’t get any punishment. Sirius was angry that they had stolen his bike and the school was angry that they accidentally broke the Statute of Secrecy, but they technically couldn’t do anything. Technically, the Muggles saw the bike because the disillusionment charms faded, which could just have been down to faulty mechanics - not their fault. It was a lucky escape, Harry didn’t even want to imagine the kind of trouble they could be in. He idly wondered if it were possible for a house to be on negative points.

Still, Draco seemed to have brushed the whole thing off in favour of his studies. Or perhaps in favour of the new Defense teacher, _Gilderoy Lockhart_. Harry felt an unreasonable amount of rage towards that man. Not only because he seemed to treat Harry as though he were some celebrity, desperate for attention like he was, but also because Draco seemed infatuated by him. He was an idiot, anyone with brains could see that, even Draco, but after twenty minutes of listening to the other boy gush about the man’s smile, Harry realised that it wasn’t so much about his personality or ‘achievements’ (Achievements that he doubted the authenticity of.), more to do with his looks. Still, Draco was obsessed. He stayed up, late at night, rereading _Magical Me_ and studying for his class. The class itself was useless, however. All the man did was retell stories of his adventures, and would frequently insist on Harry joining him on stage to play a vampire or a witch who he would inevitably end up killing, or curing. Harry felt as though he had learned nothing. And it was humiliating. Everyone in the class would stifle laughs behind their hands whenever the Professor gave him acting notes, and would chortle every time he halfheartedly attempted to follow them. 

There was one particular incident which happened in the Great Hall, when a Gryffindor first year approached him at the Slytherin table, and asked for a photograph. It made him feel awkward and uncomfortable, especially when Draco sarcastically whispered something to the rest of the table about how blessed he was to be sitting next to the famous ‘Boy Who Lived’. Their interaction was interrupted, though, by the arrival of Gilderoy, in all his finery. He was an ass. He primped and preened and pulled Harry flush against his side, grinning for the camera, and had the audacity to leave the insinuation that Harry was getting too big for his boots. 

“But you’re one of the most influential people of our generation, you’re in History books.” murmured Blaise, incredulously. He was one of the few people who weren’t charmed by Lockhart, probably because he had 'higher standards than that'. 

Draco was wistfully gazing at the doors of the Great Hall, out of which the Professor had just exited. Harry elbowed him, inexplicably angry. 

“What?” said Draco with an irritated expression. It irritated Harry sometimes that he didn’t know what he and Draco were. They had kissed before, rather, Draco had kissed him. But they never talked about it. He was perfectly happy with that at the time, but now he was filled with a strange possessiveness over the boy, as though he were his and his only. Still, he didn’t to tell Draco, out of fear that he wouldn’t feel the same. 

“Let’s go to class.” 

*** 

Quidditch tryouts were coming up and Harry and Draco couldn’t be more excited. The only position open was Seeker, so Draco had resigned himself to the fact that he probably wasn’t going to get it, but Harry knew that he really wanted it. And Draco was a very good flyer, he could completely take on the Seeker position if he wanted to, and Harry would happily give it to him. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try out at all, Draco had insisted they do it together. 

When the moment finally came around though, despite Harry’s previously casual attitude towards the whole thing, there was a strange animosity towards the two boys as they each took their turn. Draco did amazingly, he caught the snitch within half an hour, beating the rest of the competition, leaving only Harry to take his turn. It was stupid, really, it wasn’t like he had anything to prove, Draco had more practise, so would probably be the more suitable candidate. But for some reason, Harry felt desperate to win. 

He caught the Snitch within twenty minutes. He tried to explain it away, citing that it was just dumb luck, but he knew that he had been trying to beat his friend with every ounce of his being. 

Marcus Flint, the team captain, awarded him the position, and made Draco an alternate. All of a sudden, Harry felt the overwhelming guilt at what he had just done. He had beaten Draco, and was happy about it. He apologised to the other boy repeatedly, being only met with scoffs and lighthearted jokes, but Harry could see the flicker of resentment in those molten eyes that he loved so very much. Draco was talented, but nobody ever noticed because they were scared of him for some reason. They seemed either scared of him, or in awe of his prowess in school, he was the best in the class at Potions, and second best, only to Hermione, at everything else. And now he was second best at Quidditch too, something he genuinely loved. 

Still, Harry also tried to feel proud of himself. Draco had told him countless times that he never allowed himself to be. Flint had been stunned at his flying, blown away by how good he was, especially seeing as he had had very little previous experience. That statement had made Harry glow just a little. Growing up, Harry had never been the best at anything. Dudley had received all the praise. And, once he got to Hogwarts, everyone loved him, but only for a thing he did when he was a baby that he couldn’t even explain. It felt good for people to be recognising him for being good at a thing he put effort into. And he had put effort into flying. 

The excitement of the day had made Harry all but forget his previous worries about getting Draco in trouble and Gilderoy Lockhart. He fell blissfully into a deep sleep, welcoming the feeling of home that Hogwarts gave him. 


	6. Chapter Six

It was a regular day at Hogwarts when things started to change.

After dinner in the Great Hall, Draco had insisted that they go to the library. He had wanted to check up on some facts that he had read in the Prophet that morning on whether werewolves could procreate, and how it would effect their offspring, when Harry heard a strange whispering. 

“ _I smell blood… I smell blood._ ” It said. Harry pushed his ear up against the wall to hear it better, ignoring Draco’s protestations. The voice moved along the corridor, Harry followed it. And they ended up running at full speed down the hallways, getting more and more lost with every turn. Draco was panting behind him. 

“What is it now, Harry?” 

“I hear a voice, come on.” 

Draco groaned. “You’re hearing voices now? Last year you were defeating a dark wizard, last month you had a house elf telling you this place was dangerous, last week you were sticking you’re hand in a fireplace.” he listed “I swear on Helga Hufflepuff’s mandrakes, being friends with you is like trying to stop a blind bird from flying into a moving train.” 

But Harry wasn’t listening, he was more concerned with the lack of the voice in his ears, and the hideous sight before him. A shining, red puddle one the floor, and words written in blood on the wall. 

**_THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED, ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE._**

Underneath it, something was hanging. Upon closer inspection, it was Mrs Norris, still and rigid. Unmoving. 

“Harry, what is this?” 

“I don’t know.” He immediately felt sick. “We should get out of here.” But, before they could, a crowd of people gathered around them and gasped at the message. Argus Filch shoved through the crowd and started screaming about them murdering his cat, fellow Slytherins yelled profanities, and Dumbledore simply stood there in thought, gazing at the wall. He came to his senses soon enough, though, and carefully detached the cat from it’s hanging. 

“Come with me, Argus. You too, Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy.” 

“My office is nearest, Headmaster - just upstairs - please feel free…” said Lockhart, as if Dumbledore didn’t know the way around his own school. The pair followed the teachers until they got to the office. 

They talked about what could have hurt Mrs Norris, which Harry didn’t really care about. He was more focused on whatever the hell the Chamber of Secrets was and why he was hearing whispers through the wall. 

He and Draco kept a tight hold on each other’s hands throughout the meeting, until their names were mentioned. 

“I want to know why Potter and Malfoy were there, anyway.” 

“Severus, I am sure that they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” said Dumbledore, as he gave Snape a pointed look. The other wizard entertained it for a few moments before turning to Harry and Draco. 

“Care to explain why you weren’t at dinner or in your dormitories?” 

Harry didn’t know what to say, he didn’t feel comfortable with Snape or Dumbledore knowing about the voice. Thankfully, however, Draco cut in. “We were just taking an aimless walk. We do that sometimes.” 

“See, Severus?” Dumbledore asked, with a gesture towards the boys. “You two may go back to your dorms now.” Harry could sense that the conversation between the two men was far from over, but was honestly too tired to care. 

He and Draco slept in the same bed that night, wanting to keep the other close. It had become a habit of theirs to resort to this whenever something big had happened. Harry didn’t have much in the way of family, Draco was the closest he had, and he liked the comfort of having him near. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soo... how would you guys feel about some wolfstar smut later on? I have never written smut so idk if it will be very good, and it will probably be M rated at the most but I thought it would maybe mix things up? Tell me what you think, I love hearing feedback <3


	7. Chapter Seven

The first Quidditch match of the season was coming up, Slytherin vs. Gryffindor, and Harry couldn’t be more excited. Practise was gruelling, Flint was working everyone really hard, which was a good distraction for Harry. His social life was ridiculous. He finally truly understood how Draco feels every day, everyone watching you with fear in their eyes or trembling awe. Barely anyone ever looking at you as more than a reputation, nobody bothering or being brave enough to try to learn about the real person behind it. Harry could never quite understand why Draco was so glad to have his friendship, but now he could. Real friends are rarer than anything. Which was why he was still feeling extremely guilty about Quidditch.

Since Draco was an alternate, he could attend practises, and even played a big part of them. He learned the basics for every position so that he could jump in if they needed him, which made him an an even stronger player that he was before. He actually didn’t seem to be that angry about it either. 

“It’s good practise, actually.” he said. “How many players know each position equally well? Next year, when Montague leaves, I’ll have a really good shot at Chaser!” 

Harry was happy for him, and felt significantly lighter by the time that the first Quidditch match rolled around. Flint was pacing up and down the Slytherin table, ensuring that everyone ate a good breakfast, before they head out to the field, where he proceeded to regurgitate a speech that he had clearly written the night before. Once Adrien Pucey had finally cut him off, they strutted out onto the field. Harry had his eyes glued on the stands, where he could see Draco surrounded by their group, decked out in Slytherin green. He was breathtaking. The sight of him actually calmed Harry’s pounding heart, which felt like it was going to rip itself out of his chest. 

Flint shook hands with the captain of the Gryffindor team, Oliver Wood, and they held their gaze for perhaps a little longer than was necessary. He privately thought that the pair clearly harboured some unaddressed feelings for one another, but held is tongue as he realised that he wasn’t one to talk. 

They lifted off and the balls were released, but one bludger came flying directly at Harry’s head. He swiftly dodged it and Bole smacked it over towards Alicia Spinnet, but it flew back to Harry again. By now, Derrick had joined them and whacked the ball over towards Wood, but it still boomeranged back to Harry. 

“Someone’s messed with this bludger!” grunted Bole. One of the Weasley twins had come over now and tried to tackle the ball. Marcus called for a time out and everyone came down to the ground. 

“Madame Hooch!” said one of the Weasley twins, Harry thought it was Fred. “This bludger keeps going after Harry, I think someone’s messed with it!” She came over and inspected the other twin, George, he assumed, who was desperately wrestling with the ball that seemed intent on flying after Harry. 

“How do we know it wasn’t one of your Gryffindors?” Flint grunted, with a pointed look towards Oliver. 

“We play fair, Flint, unlike some people.” he replied, coolly. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the other boy demanded, and started puffing out his chest in an intimidating motion. 

Hooch seemed to be paying little attention to them, but lazily said. “Don’t fight.” As if it that was going to help. “Welp, Potter. I think it’s best if I go and get another bludger from the store room. Weasley, try and get that thing back in it’s box.” She exited with billowing robes and left the teams standing dumbly in the centre of the field. 

By now, Draco had run down from the stands and brushed his hand against Harry’s sleeve, grabbing his attention. “Are you okay? What happened?” 

“I’m alright, that bludger was just going after me, we think someone’s tampered with it.” 

He eyed Harry contemplatively “That’s so strange. I wonder who would do that.” 

“I don’t know.” he shrugged. “Oh, Hooch is coming. We’re about to start again.” 

“Okay, I’ll get back to my seat, stay safe!” He started jogging away. 

“Don’t I always?” 

“Ha! I wish!” 

The teams took to the skies again, and the balls were released once more. It seemed that everything was going well, until Harry again found himself on the wrong end of a bludger. 

“Holy Hippogriff, what do these balls have against me?” 

Bode pulled up next to him. “Do you want us to call a time out again?” 

Harry thought about this. “Nah. You guys keep a hold of the other one, I’ll just keep running away from it. I’ll be fine.” The other boy didn’t look to reassured, but did what Harry said nonetheless. It was good, because Harry had seen a glint of gold near the bottom of the teacher’s stand. He raced towards it, a bludger on his tail, but had to turn around when he realised that the glint was just someone’s lost watch. 

He sailed around the field, keeping high in the air but never staying in one spot too long, until he finally saw the Snitch, the real one this time. It was nearer the ground, but just seemed to be hovering in the middle of the pitch. He raced towards it, all the while being pitifully followed by the Gryffindor Seeker, Mclaggen, and the bludger. But, just as he closed his hands around the cool metal, the ball finally caught up with him and jammed into his arm. He fell off his broom, only falling about two metres, and landed in a head on the floor. 

The whole team rushed towards him. 

“Are you okay, Harry?” 

“You alright, Potter? Can you stand up?” 

“Harry!” A familiar voice pushed through the crowd and knelt at his side. “Harry! Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Draco gasped, noticing his bleeding arm. 

“I caught the Snitch.” 

“I know you did, you daft bugger. And you broke you arm while doing it.” He tenderly kissed the palm of his hand and Harry felt instantly better, but their lovely moment was interrupted by another familiar voice shoving aside students to get to Harry. 

“Oh no, not you.” 

“Doesn’t know what he’s saying.” said Lockhart, whipping out his wand. “Not to worry, Harry. I’m about to fix your arm.” 

“I would rather you didn’t, thanks.” Harry groaned, catching Draco’s eye with a pleading look. 

“Professor, don’t you think it would be best if we let Madame Pomfrey deal with this? She can heal bones instantly.” 

“Nonsense, nonsense. I will have this done in one moment.” The stupid man seemed adamant. “Hold still, Harry.” 

Briefly, Harry wondered what the worst case scenario here was. Surely nothing much could happen from a simple healing charm. How wrong he was. Slowly, the strangest, most unpleasant sensation was spreading up Harry’s arm, or at least what used to feel like Harry’s arm, for it didn’t feel like an arm at all anymore. Draco shrieked. 

“What the hell did you do, Professor?” 

“Ah, yes. That can sometimes happen. But the point is, the bones are no longer broken-” He carried on rambling, but Harry was grotesquely fascinated by his used-to-be arm, which now resembled jelly. 

“HE HAS NO BONES LEFT, YOU MORON!” cried Draco. Harry was shocked that his friend was speaking that way to a teacher. But then, he thought, Lockhart hadn’t done anything in his time here that could be deserving of that title. 

“Let’s take you to the hospital wing, Potter.” said Flint, who hoisted him up with the help of Oliver Wood. It was quite nice, Harry thought through the haze of knowing that your arm could be eaten with a spoon, that the two teams had put aside their differences in favour of a joint hatred for Professor Lockhart. The bumbling man had fled the scene, for which Harry was grateful. He didn’t think that there were many people he disliked more than Gilderoy Lockhart. 


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big Wolfstar energy going on in this chapter (and, of course, Drarry too!!)
> 
> I hope you enjoy, and I forgot to say that I hope this is proving a good enough quarantine distraction as it is for me haha <3

“So, wait, that Colin kid’s been Petrified?” Draco was sat attentively listening to Harry recounting his eventful night.

“Yeah, just like Mrs Norris!” Harry whisper-shouted. “It’s scary, isn’t it? Something is going on, Draco!” 

“Oh, shush.” he scoffed. “Even if that’s true, there is no way I am letting you be the hero again, Harry.” 

So the dark-haired boy resigned himself to waiting for his bones to regrow, which turned out to be just as painful as it sounded, if not more so. Draco was infuriated. Any fancy that he once had for Lockhart had disapparated, and all his attention was focused on Harry. He spent every possible moment he could at the boy’s bedside, doing his best to make the pain go away. But he couldn’t. That had been a problem for him as long as he could remember. He vaguely remembered the face of his mother, but it was always distressed and upset and all he wanted to do was wipe her frown away, but couldn’t. Or whenever Moony came back from what he now knew was a transformation, and no amount of hugs could make him look less tired or get the sad glint out of his eyes. 

When he first met Harry, he could see that same glint. All he wanted was to make him forget all of the sadness he had been through, but some things are just impossible. He was working on understanding that better. 

One day, while eating dinner in the Hospital Wing, Harry told Draco about his second visit from the strange house elf, Dobby (who was apparently the one who charmed the bludger for some stupidly heroic reason. Draco inwardly groaned when Harry told him this, he would never be able to get used to the universe being against his Harry.) 

“...and he started talking about the Chamber-” 

“Okay, I’m going to stop you right there, Harry.” Draco interrupted. “We are not, I repeat, not, going to investigate the Chamber of Secrets.” 

“And why not?” 

Draco took a deep, calming breath. “Because it isn’t real,” Harry opened his mouth to say something but he ploughed on with more emphasis. “ _But if it is_ , it is not our responsibility.” 

“But what if it is? I am apparently the Heir of Slytherin.” 

“You are not the Heir of Slytherin.” 

“I am the only one here who can speak Parseltoungue, I bet that would be a useful trait to have if you’re defeating Slytherin’s monster.” 

“Oh my goodness, no. Stop! You are so annoying! I get it, you have a hero complex, I remember, but you also promised me that you would be safe! Fighting a monster is not safe, Harry!” His voice was rising to inappropriate levels. 

Harry shifted uncomfortably, and a dark cloud fell over his features. “You can’t stop me, I’ll do it anyway.” 

He nearly cried, then. “Please don’t, Harry. You’re too important to me.” Draco couldn’t imagine his life without the stupid boy sat in front of him. 

Finally, Harry’s features softened a little. “Fine. But if more bad things start happening, I’m doing more research on it.” 

Draco sighed. “Okay. Just, keep me updated with whatever you’re doing.” 

“Alright. I can do that.” 

“I love you, Harry.” 

“I love you too.” 

*** 

Sirius seemed to constantly be furious at Albus Dumbledore. What used to be an unwavering respect, since turned out to be more of a raging hatred for everything the old man stood for. He could carry on ranting for years about his methods, and certainly would, but today he genuinely didn’t have it in him. 

“Honestly, Moony, I don’t understand why we don’t just send Draco to Durmstrang or Beauxbatons. He would look lovely in blue.” he said over the top of his son’s most recent letter, describing a bludger attack on Harry and a petrified child. 

“He would. But what would we do with Harry?” Remus was agitated, the full moon was coming up and he didn’t need the extra pressure. Draco had apologised at the end of his letter, actually, for stressing him out. 

“I’m sure he’d like to go too. I know Madame Maxine is an oddball, but she’s less of an oddball that Dumby. And I don’t think she’s a dangerous one.” 

“No. Whatever you may say about the man, he knows Voldemort better than anyone.” 

He was slowly getting more and more irritated. “But Draco and Harry could defeat him in two seconds, if they had the proper training!” 

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Remus snapped. 

Sirius settled down. “You’re right, I’m sorry Moons.” 

“It’s fine, I just hate thinking about it.” The werewolf hid his head in his hands. “I love that kid so much and I don’t want to see him go and fight in a war.” Sirius moved over to sit next to him, and held his head in a loose, comforting embrace. 

“I know. But he’ll be fine. He’s more than powerful enough, Merlin knows.” 

Remus sniffled. “It’s just - I know what it’s like to be powerful and it’s not fun. It’s painful and upsetting and I know it’ll feel the same, if not worse for them.” 

“I can only imagine what you go through every month, Moony.” Sirius kept his voice hushed and soothing. “But you’re strong. And so is our son.” 

They stayed in that hug for a while before the tears had finally dried on Remus’s cheeks, and he dislodged himself from his husband. They locked eyes. 

Sirius had always adored Remus’s eyes. They were a dark, honey colour, exactly like the kind you would find dripping out of a beehive, fresh and natural. When they were filled with tears, the colour was intensified. He hated to say it, but it was probably the most heart-breakingly beautiful thing he had ever seen, even when the tears were sad. 

However, he has one particular memory - the one he uses for his Patronus, actually - of his face on their wedding day. It was stoic and calm to anyone who didn’t know where to look, but his lower lip trembled slightly and his cheeks were a painted with a faint blush, a butterfly blush, Sirius called it. But his eyes. They were wet and shiny with tears of utter joy and love and the colour was indescribable. It was as though whatever God was out there, every magical and non-magical creature, all of the characters from the stories he had read, all came together, put aside their differences, and infused this wonderful man’s eyes with the nectar of the Earth. It sounded dramatic, but there it was. 

He couldn’t help it when Remus was like this. He leaned forward and pushed their lips together, expecting a chaste kiss, but instead the other man deepened it, grasping onto the back of Sirius’s head like an anchor and sliding their tongues together, firm but lazy. Sirius felt that he could contentedly stay kissing Remus Lupin for the rest of his life, and never need anything more. It reminded him of when they were teenagers, sneaking kisses in the dormitories when James and Peter were out, hiding in unused classrooms between Transfiguration and Potions, staying late in the common room so that they could make use of the romantic setting. It was never about sex with Remus, although the man was _incredibly_ sexy. It was more about the painful amount of _love_ that he felt for him. When they kissed, the stars and the moon collided, creating a nebula. 

They kissed like that for a while, pausing every now and again for breath. The kiss was steady and warm and exactly what they both needed. Each time they parted, Remus would whisper a small _I love you_ against his lips, exactly like he did they first time they said it. If only things were still that simple. 


	9. Chapter Nine

From then on, strange things started happening to Harry. On one October night, he and Draco were in the Slytherin common room, finishing their transfiguration homework, when Harry felt a strange chill.

“Jeez, it’s hot in here.” said Draco, stretching languorously on the sofa. 

“Seriously?” Harry squeaked incredulously, from his spot on the floor near the fireplace. “It’s freezing. Can I turn the fire on?” 

“Are you kidding? You could cook a goose in here, no way!” They continued the back and forth for a while before Draco finally acquiesced, allowing Harry to light the fire, instead opting to practise his cooling charms. Once Harry did, he waited for a few minutes for the heart to kick in, but it didn’t. “Harryyyyyyy… it’s so hot!” 

“I don’t feel anything.” Draco shot him a look of disbelief before continuing with his spellwork. Harry, however, was still confused. He was cold, very cold. So cold that he felt it to his bones. He reached out for Draco’s knitted blanket and wrapped it around himself like a cocoon. He felt minutely better, if only for the smell of Draco that now surrounded him. Harry rubbed his hands together and held them closer to the fire, still no difference. 

He held them a little closer. 

And closer again. 

His hands were so close to the flames that they were practically licking his skin when Draco shrieked. “HARRY, WHAT THE HELL?” He was finally broken out of his trance and looked up to find the other boy sat up, shirt so unbuttoned he could see the pale planes of his chest rising and falling, his hair ruffled and damp with sweat, staring at him as though he had two heads. Harry gulped and blushed at the display. 

“Sorry.” 

“SORRY?” He cried, sounding slightly hysterical. “Didn’t it cross your mind for a moment there that fire hurts when you touch it?” 

“But. I. Don’t. Feel. It.” 

“Probably because your nerves are deadened from being so stupid!” Harry sighed. He wasn’t going to win the argument. 

“Sorry, Draco. I’ll try to be less stupid.” He couldn’t keep the hint of sarcasm out of his voice, but turned back to the fire, ending the conversation, anyway. 

However, Harry still waited until the other boy had gone to bed before he investigated further. He started edging his hand closer to the flames before he was a hair width away from them, still feeling as cold as he did before. He took a deep breath, and plunged his hand in, preparing himself for searing pain. It didn’t come, though. Instead, it just felt like the flames he walked through the previous year just before his fight with Quirrell, tickly and pleasant. They were warm, but not hot, and his skin didn’t seem to be reacting to them at all. He pulled his fingers out and inspected them, only to find them devoid of any defect that would suggest previous exposure to fire. 

Harry noticed a box of matches near his foot and got an idea. He took one out of the box and lit it, before holding it up to the palm of his hand. Still, nothing happened. 

Briefly, Harry wondered if this was unusual. But he then brushed that thought off, thinking that it was just another thing that made him stand out, and that wasn’t what he wanted with people like Colin Creevey and Gilderoy Lockhart wandering around. 

*** 

The second strange thing happened at a mysterious duel club. A poster for it appeared on the notice board in the Slytherin common room. It didn’t say who was running it, only a time and place for when to meet. Draco and Harry didn’t see much reason not to, and it sounded like it could be fun, so they attended and waited in the Great Hall with a crowd of other students, staring at the platform that had been created in the centre of the room, presumable for the duels that they would be doing. 

Unfortunately, the teacher who was running the club, was none other that Gilderoy Pompous Arse Lockhart. Harry groaned but Draco elbowed him, gesturing towards the man, who was now addressing them with a condescending air that was so intolerable it made Harry want to rush up to Dumbledore’s office and demand to know all the secrets of the universe, knowing that all he would get was that irritating twinkle the old man got in his eyes whenever he knew something that Harry did not. 

To everybody’s surprise, Lockhart introduced a helper… Snape. It was shocking, but Harry felt almost comforted by the fact that Snape would most likely be taking the piss out of the other Professor. The two geared up for a demonstration, but it didn’t last long. Snape disarmed Lockhart within about two and a half seconds, leaving the man sprawled on the floor in an undignified heap. He passed it off as though he was allowing Snape to do that, simply for demonstration, but it was clear from the redness on his cheek, that the had not. 

He asked everyone to split off into pairs, so Harry and Draco moved away to a discreet corner of the room. 

“Ready?” Harry asked, but he reared back slightly in shock at Draco’s expression, which was fiery and determined, almost mean. He had only seen the other boy look this way when he was in an argument with Ron or when he wanted to beat Hermione, he had never used it on him. “Are you oka-” 

“On the count of three?” Interrupted Draco, he didn’t wait for a reply before he started counting. “One.” They readied their positions. “Two.” Harry braced himself for whatever Draco would hurl at him. But, before Draco could finish the count, they were interrupted by Lockhart clapping for everyone’s attention. 

“Everybody! Gather round. We’re going to choose two of you to do a demonstration.” He looked around the group, pausing on each face, as though he were a child choosing Pick ‘n Mix. He stopped abruptly and gasped. “Ah, Harry Potter.” Harry groaned quietly. “Come up here, my boy, let’s see what you can do.” He sullenly trudged over to the platform and stood next to Lockhart, who was busy choosing the next victim. He pointed his bejewelled finger at Ron. “You.” 

“Actually, sir,” Snape started, coming up from behind. “Mr Weasley had broken his wand, and will therefore be unable to perform spells adequately.” The man paused, probably for dramatic effect and said, “Draco Malfoy, would be a good competitor.” Harry smiled, he wouldn’t mind facing off against Draco, it would probably be a laugh. 

He turned and watched his friend wade through the sea of children before coming up onto the platform. His face was a fiery as before, if not more so. Harry was unnerved. 

They took their stances in the middle of the platform, wands against their faces, staring deep into the other’s eyes. Harry had always known that Draco had beautiful eyes, but had never quite realised how terrifying they could be when they were angry. He noticed the other boy’s lips curl into a snarl. 

“Scared, Potter?” He said. Harry at first though he was joking, but his reply sounded deadly coming from his lips. 

“You wish.” 

They retreated to the ends of the space and readied themselves. Lockhart tried to explain a complicated blocking charm but dropped his wand, Harry saw Snape whisper something in Draco’s ear and he smirked. Honestly, his friend was becoming a little intimidating. 

“Just do what I did, Harry.” 

“What, drop my wand?” Harry was so unprepared, clearly Draco had more experience than he did. 

“One. Two. Three.” 

“ _Serpensortia_ ” said Draco, and a long, black snake shot out the tip of his wand. 

“Don’t move, Potter.” Snape seemed to be enjoying the whole thing, but Harry wasn’t afraid. He had dealt with snakes before. The creature was nearing a student, Justin Finch-Fletchley, fangs exposed, so Harry calmly told it to back away. To his relief, it listened. He carried on whispering calming words to it, guiding it away from the boy. Once it was gone, Harry looked up, expecting to see an expression of gratitude on Justin’s face, but instead found horror. Nobody was speaking, everyone was shocked. Even Draco, whose stony mask had fallen to reveal a blushing mess. 

“Harry.” he breathed. 

“What do you think you’re playing at?” yelled Justin, before he ran out of the hall. 

Snape banished the snake, and the club was dismissed. Harry had no idea what had just happened, but he wasn’t too pleased about it. 

*** 

Harry and Draco were simply trotting down the corridor, discussing the duelling club and all that came with it, when Harry stopped dead in his tracks. Justin was collapsed on the floor, rigid, with a look of shock on his face, and Nearly Headless Nick was floating a few feet above him, no longer pearly which and translucent, instead black and smoky. Justin had been clearly petrified, but he had no clue what had happened to Nick. 

“Harry, let’s go, we shouldn’t be seen here.” Draco tugged on Harry’s arm persistently. “Harry, come on!” But he couldn’t move. His feet seemed glued to the ground. “Harry!” The other boy’s warning was fruitless, however, because Peeves was hovering above their heads, ready to blow. 

“ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTACK!” 

That night, Harry searched for the Chamber of Secrets with his special book, but nothing showed up, only a warning that he shouldn’t be asking. That was an annoying thing it tended to do when he looked for something too dangerous or stupid, it would give him a sassy comment or two, probably for his own good. But from that week on, it was now common knowledge that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were working together to rid the school of Muggleborns, through the use of Slytherin’s Monster. 


	10. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short one today, sorry! (Also I feel like Draco is super perceptive, especially in comparison to Harry Oblivious Potter haha)

Draco knew what Harry could do. He could talk to snakes. He knew it was horrible, supposedly. But that knowledge didn’t stop him from liking it so much. The same way he liked Gilderoy Lockhart, even though he was an idiot, only more. It was strange. It made him feel things he had never felt before. He didn’t tell Harry this. He didn’t tell anyone. He would just keep it a secret. Because the whole school was either terrified of Harry, or desperate for his attention. Their group of Slytherin cronies definitely were. With the rumours that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin going around, he was a very good alliance to have. But Ron and Hermione had basically ditched them. And whenever the two walked side-by-side down a corridor, students would scream and run the other way, or tremble, paralysed with fear. It was nice, actually, not being the only one that people were afraid of, but he could tell that Harry didn’t like it. Even when he suggested that they take advantage of it and sit on thrones that would be lifted in the air by their cohorts, there was still a bitterness to his laugh.

Draco instead decided to write to his dads and tell them all about it. After sending Perseus off, he turned to see Harry sulking on the bed. 

“It’ll get better. Even if you are the Heir of Slytherin, that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.” 

“But, wasn’t Voldemort a descendent from Slytherin? Doesn’t this mean that I have some link to Voldemort.” his voice was barely above a whisper, but Draco’s ears were always tuned in to the sound of Harry. 

“Harry, you do have a link to Voldemort. I very much doubt that he only left a scar on your head that night in Godric’s Hollow.” Draco sighed and sat down next to his friend. “Look, I have to deal with scared idiots all the time. And, trust me, it gets better. It only proves who your real friends are.” 

“That’s me?” He grinned and bumped their shoulders together. 

“That’s you.” 

*** 

“OH, SON OF A BI-” 

“What is it now?” Remus and Sirius were once again preparing breakfast in their kitchen, as they did every day, when Perseus dropped in with a letter from Draco that caused Sirius to choke on his toast. 

“Harry’s a Parseltongue.” 

Remus stopped dead. “No way.” 

“Yes way, look.” He pointed at the letter which clearly stated that Harry had said something to snake and that it had understood. That it had sounded like hissing. 

“Oh my God. As if that kid couldn’t be any stranger.” 

“He’s not strange, he’s gifted.” 

“Sure, gifted with-” 

“We don’t need to rehash what powers he has, we know them.” Sirius rubbed his temple. “So, does this mean that he’s the Heir of Slytherin?” 

“No. I don’t think the Potter line descends from Salazar Slytherin. Or the Evans line, for that matter.” 

“So what do we do?” Remus hadn’t a clue. There was nothing that they could do until the boys started showing signs of their hidden magic. And that could happen any day. All they needed to do was just hold tight. 


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I NEED HELP! I want to put Pansmione in this but I really don't know, please tell me what ships you want to see in this, I want you guys to enjoy it! I can't decide, Luna and Ginny, Pansy and Ginny, Pansy and Luna, Pansy and Hermione, Blaise and Ron, maybe even Crabbe and Goyle, or I might just do Romione, maybe some hetero couples for a change lol 
> 
> Tell me!!

Christmas had finally arrived and Harry was spending it at the Lupin-Blacks! Remus couldn’t be more excited. The year before had gone so well, and he was determined to make Harry feel as though he was a part of the family. This was especially important for Sirius, who felt quite a personal connection to Harry.

“It’s like I’m paying back James, somehow. Do you know what I mean?” The man had said the night before. “Like, when I left Walburga and Orion, the Potters took me in and became my second family, so we can be that for Harry now. I know he can’t stay here at Easter or for the first half of Summer, but at least we get Christmas.” 

The complication over who Harry would be staying with over that period of time became a lot more complicated after the whole ‘Heir of Slytherin’ debacle. Nobody seemed to want to take on the young Parseltongue, even if it was only for five weeks of the year. It was going to be the Finnigan’s, but they backed out, and the Thomas’s were a no-go once the Finnigan’s didn’t want to. Remus was actually going to firecall Molly Weasley and try to convice her, but it was a longshot. 

Remus tried to put this out of his mind, however. Instead of stressing over anything, like he always did, he was going to let nature take it’s course. There was a prophecy once told about all of this. And nothing he did would prevent that from happening, so why should be bother? 

Once Harry had arrived and was set up on a spare mattress in Draco’s room, which Remus knew would probably be little used, the little boy avoided the snow like the plague. It had fallen quite a bit this year, to Draco extreme delight, he loved the snow, so did Sirius, who had a childlike glee for the stuff. They were playing in the garden for what seemed like hours before Sirius thundered in, eyes gaunt and stormy. 

“It’s happening, Remus.” he choked out in a hushed tone so that Harry couldn’t hear. 

“No, it can’t be. It’s too early.” he ushered the man into the next room. 

“Yes. I just threw a snowball in Draco’s face and he said it didn’t feel cold, help me. I don’t know what to do.” Sirius was properly sobbing now. The kind of heartbreaking sobs that held your lungs in a clench. He wanted to ease him out of it but could figure out how to move his limbs. They were twelve for God’s sake. No twelve year old should have to suffer from that. 

There came a knock at the door. 

“Dad?” said Draco’s muffled voice. “Are you okay? You looked like you had just seen a Boggart or something!” 

Sirius paused a little before he could formulate an answer. “Yeah, I’m fine, kid. Go hang out with Harry, for a bit.” 

“Okay.” They could hear footsteps growing fainter, and waited until they were completely gone until they started to talk. 

“Remus, I don’t know how much longer I can do this.” 

“You have to.” said Remus, sharply. “For Draco. And for Harry. They don’t have anyone but us.” 

Sirius looked imploringly into his husband’s eyes. “I wish they had more.” 

“We are enough. We will be enough." 

“I don't think we can be." 

"We have to be." 

*** 

Harry loved Draco’s room. It was so personal. The walls were covered in posters of obscure bands and movies, mostly Muggle, surprisingly, and photographs. Once, Harry woke up from a nightmare in Draco’s room and had spent three hours inspecting each picture. 

There was one of him riding a Junior Broom for the first time and giggling, one of him and Remus in an intense Wizard Chess game when he was too small to understand any of it, with Remus jokingly pretending to be absolutely stumped by the boy, one of a seven to nine year-old Draco drowning in Sirius’s leather jacket and motorbike helmet. But, Harry’s favourite was of Sirius and Remus cradling a very young Draco, probably around four or five. They weren’t looking at him with familiar love, but some new kind of awe that painted your features when you are scared and nervous and blind sighted as hell but also feeling like the luckiest person in the world. Once, Harry asked Draco about it. It was taken on the day he was adopted, by Professor McGonagall. It was his favourite too, he says because of the sheer terror at the idea of parenthood on his father’s faces, but Harry thought it was perhaps more. 

Draco appeared at the door. 

“Hey. You alright?” 

Harry breathed. He always felt just a little bit calmer whenever Draco was near him. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just looking at your pictures.” All of a sudden, Harry knew what he was getting Draco for Christmas. 

*** 

Christmas Day was wonderful. The dinner was delicious, the snow was thick and fluffy, everyone seemed to forget all of their awful thoughts. Like the previous year, Draco and Harry exchanged their gifts in private. 

“Okay, open it!” Harry tore the paper off to reveal a dark, wooden box with Golden Snitches painted on the side. He traced the engravings reverently and opened it, marvelling at the decorated interior. “This is a secrecy box. You can put anything in it but to the rest of the world it will look empty.” Harry gasped. 

“Wow. Draco this is… too much, how much did this cost you?” 

“Well the actual box cost me nothing.” said Draco offhandedly “Another amazing find from Grimmauld Place. I only had to pay for the engravings. See, if you look closeley.” He pointed at the shiny clasp on the side which said: 

_To Harry, Merry Christmas! Love, Draco x_

“I love it, Draco. You’re incredible.” 

“I know.” They giggled. “My turn!” 

Harry passed him a gift box tied with a green, Slytherin ribbon. “If you don’t like it, you can return it. I only got it a few days ago because I didn’t know what to get you but then I had an idea but I can give it back if you don’t like it…” He carried on rambling but Draco wasn’t listening, instead focusing on the shiny, fiddly contraption in his hands. 

“You got me a camera?” he interrupted. 

Harry blushed. “Yeah. It’s Muggle. I just thought that you might want to add some more photos onto your wall.” He was now staring at his knees, uncomfortable. 

“I love it. I love it so much, thank you.” It was the most incredible gift he had ever received. “Let’s take a photo right now.” He started inspecting the buttons and switches, utterly baffled. “How does it work?” 

After a little while of Harry explaining to Draco the mechanics of a camera, they took a photo. There was no way of seeing it, however, because they needed to develop it, something that Draco very much looked forward to learning about. 

*** 

“So what happens if we can’t find someone to take Harry in?” asked Remus, worriedly. 

“He’ll have to go back to the Dursleys.” Dumbledore said simply, leaning back in his chair. 

Sirius growled. “That’s not going to happen.” 

“He can stay here over Easter and then he’ll only have to go back for three weeks.” 

“Still. Not. Happening. Surely we can figure something out.” The two men were standing up from their seats, now towering over Dumbledore, who was still seated. 

“We can’t keep the boys in such close conditions without supervision from one of our experts.” 

“Experts? You guys have heard the prophecy and read the tale as many times as we have, none of us are prepared for what’s going to happen!” 

Remus cut in. “Look, Professor, we just want what’s best for Harry and Draco. If keeping them apart is what’s best, why don’t you keep Harry at Hogwarts for the Summer?” 

“We can. I would have to ask another teacher to stay over with me, it is an unusual circumstance.” 

“Yeah, no shit.” He wouldn’t usually swear in the presence of the headmaster, but was honestly at his wit’s end. “I am sure that Minerva will be okay with it, I’ll make the arrangements.” 


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So excited about this chapter!

Harry was having a wonderful week. He and Draco took photos whenever they could, wherever they could, even in places that weren’t very exciting, like the boy’s toilets of the second floor, or by the picture of the jaguars playing Naughts and Crosses up by Gryffindor Tower. Harry loved it. It felt like he had more of a permanent connection to Draco. As though the other boy would be looking at the photos in the future, telling people about his best friend Harry.

At one point, they were wandering aimlessly through the corridors, trying to find something interesting to take a picture of, when Draco suggested that they visit Moaning Myrtle, a ghost who apparently resided in one of the girl’s toilets. Harry didn’t quite see the point but would happily follow Draco anywhere. 

The girl was exceedingly strange, and it wasn’t surprising that she was known as Moaning Myrtle. She wailed and cried unendingly, always upset about something. Today, it was that someone had thrown a book at her. 

“... I was just sitting in the U-bend, thinking about death, and it fell right on top of my head.” She gestured to a small, leather diary on the floor, drenched in toilet water. Harry moved to pick it up but Draco stopped him. 

“Don’t touch magical objects that you don’t know the origins of.” he groaned, tiredly. It had become a part of their routine, that Draco would halfheartedly try to stop him from doing something stupid, before he inevitably did it anyway. 

“It just looks like a diary, to me.” he said with a shrug as he grabbed it. The date on the cover told him that it was fifty years old, and the smudged name on the first page told him that it belonged to someone called T.M. Riddle. 

“Huh.” Draco huffed. “Boring. Let’s go.” But Harry felt strangely drawn to the book, and pocketed it anyway. 

*** 

The rest of the day held nothing special, but Draco mentioned at one point that Valentine's Day was coming up. 

“You excited?” he squealed, grinning like a loon. 

“Why would I be excited?” Harry shrugged. “Valentines holds nothing to Christmas.” 

“But it’s so exciting! Love is in the air, Harry, can you feel it?” It became clear to Harry then that Draco was quite a romantic, which was probably the most adorable thing he had ever thought about. It was enough to make him just as excited for the holiday, if only because he wanted to see the other boy’s face when he stepped into the Great Hall, which turned out to be priceless. The second they came down for breakfast, it was evident that something exciting was happening, for students were giggling and speaking in hushed, excited whispers, a nice contrast to the terrified ones that they had been on the receiving ends of, and trotting down the halls humming the tunes of unknown songs. But, what really blew Harry away were the decorations. 

The hall had been fully decked out in pink hearts and roses, with heart-shaped confetti falling from the ceiling. Draco chortled with stupid glee. 

“Oh! I LOVE it!” He jumped up and down on the balls of his feet in possibly the cutest way ever, in Harry’s opinion, and hugged Harry from behind. “I just love love.” 

“I love you.” Draco paused for a moment and looked at Harry in bemusement. They had said it to each other before, but it held more meaning to him now. 

“I love you too.” He breathed and shook his head, pushing the movement aside. He raced down the Slytherin table, sat himself down, and began helping himself to a large serving of the marshmallow cereal they were serving. 

It was then that Harry’s eyes caught onto the monstrosity that was Lockhart’s robes. 

“Oh he looks ghastly.” Draco giggled. “Didn’t anyone ever tell him that you shouldn’t mix pink and red?” Pansy joined in now, cackling at the idiot, before he called for everyone’s attention. Harry quickly sat down next to Draco and gave the man about half of his attention. 

“Happy Valentine's Day!” the man cried. “And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all - and it doesn’t end here!” 

Draco squealed as the doors of the Entrance Hall slammed open to reveal a dozen surly-looking dwarfs wearing golden wings and carrying harps. 

“My friendly, card-carrying cupids!” Lockhart beamed. He continued to explain that the creatures would be wandering around the school, delivering Valentines through the means of song, and cards if you so chose. Harry glanced at Draco, whose excitement had dimmed slightly. 

“Are you okay?” asked Harry under his breath, nudging Draco’s side. The boy jumped slightly and regarded him with a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“I’m fine it’s just… I’m going to feel jealous with a bunch of people getting them when I’m not.” He chuckled drily and turned his attention back to Lockhart. However, Harry was busy formulating a plan. 

*** 

The plan took place during Transfiguration, when one of the dwarves entered the classroom and cleared his throat. 

“I’ve got a musical message to deliver to Draco Malfoy in person.” he grunted. Draco’s eyes lit up. 

“Me?” 

“Yes.” The creature wasn’t particularly friendly, Harry noted, but chose to ignore it in favour of Draco’s face, which was the picture of unexpected, unadulterated joy. “I will sing it now.” 

_Your golden hair stands out in a crowd,  
In empty fields and soaring clouds.  
I love you when we’re flying,  
Or stuck on the ground,  
My wonderful Valentiiiiiiinee.  
_

Draco cackled and turned to Harry with a smile that could blind Voldemort, he had tears of happiness in his eyes, making them a more potent shade of dark silver. “I love it, Harry. Thank you.” 

There was an incident a few hours later which involved Harry being accosted by a dwarf of his own singing some song about his eyes being as green as a fresh pickled toad but he brushed it off in favour of Draco, who had given him a quick peck on the lips before he raced off to Quidditch practise. 

“See you later.” he breathed, smiling serenely. If it weren’t for the lyrics, Harry would have been sure that Draco was the one who wrote the song, but he never seriously thought of Harry as a hero, more of an idiot who got himself into too much trouble, and Draco compared his eyes to emeralds rather than toads, anyway. 

His face flushed - perhaps Valentines day wasn’t so bad after all. 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments recently!! Also can I just apologise, I feel like Draco is smarter than Ron, no offence to Ron, I love him, but I feel like he would spot some of the obvious things about the chamber quicker? If that makes sense? My point is, they find it in a slightly different way to how they do in canon, I didn't want to force all of the scenes that happened in the book to happen in this because it felt unnatural (???). Sorry, I'm super new at this whole fan fiction thing, but I'm having a lot of fun with it!

Harry did another stupid thing.

Draco had spent the evening of Valentines Day, while Harry was at Quidditch, to catch up on some homework and look into some defensive spells that his dad had mentioned to him. The day had been wonderful, especially Harry’s little surprise, but he was still just as on edge as he had been all year. Ever since they had discovered that damn message on the wall, the reality of the situation had dawned on him, that Hogwarts was a dangerous place. So, unbeknownst to Harry, Draco had been stealing the other boy’s cloak and spending late hours in the library, researching every defensive spell and practising. So far, he was half a year ahead of his classmates in DADA, which was good, but not good enough. If it came down to it, Draco wouldn’t be able to stand by as the more experienced wizards and witches took the lead, he needed to learn something himself. 

By the time he decided to turn in, it was 11:00. He yawned widely and sorted the books back onto the shelves, putting a temporary silencing charm on them so they made as little noise as possible. He put the same charm on his feet, and made his way back to Slytherin. Distracted by thoughts of a warm, inviting bed, Draco almost didn’t notice Harry’s head, plunged into the centre of a diary. But on the double take, it hit him how utterly ridiculous the sight should be. He stomped over to Harry’s side and yanked his head back out again, only to find the other boy looking dazed and irritated at his time inside the book being cut short. 

“What the hell.” it came out as more of a statement than a question. Harry had the decency to look sheepish. 

“I was just really immersed in the book?” he offered, to no avail. If it weren’t for the three sleeping boys in the room, Draco would have been having a hissy fit. He cast a silencing charm over the bed and clambered in, drawing the curtains behind him. He then let it rip. 

“WHAT - ON MERLIN’S SAGGY TITS - WAS YOUR HEAD DOING PLUNGED IN A BOOK?” 

Harry matched his volume. “I WAS LOOKING AT A MEMORY! TOM RIDDLE SHOWED ME!” 

“WHO IS THAT?” 

“THE ONE WHO USED TO OWN THE BOOK!” 

“OH, RIGHT, YEAH THAT TOM RIDDLE, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CLEARING THAT UP FOR ME, HARRY! I HAD FORGOTTEN HOW CLOSE YOU ARE WITH THE MAN WHO OWNED THE RANK OLD BOOK FROM FIFTY YEARS AGO!” 

“BUT IT WAS HAGRID! HE OPENED THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS!” 

“AGAIN WITH THE CHAMBER! IT’S AS IF LIFE HASN’T GIVEN YOU ENOUGH WAYS TO DIE YET!” 

“DON’T START WITH ME, I WAS CURIOUS!” 

“OH, CLEARLY!” Both of their throats were getting sore, but Draco continued, fuelled only by rage. “LET’S REVIEW: YOU PICKED UP A RANDOM BOOK OFF OF THE FLOOR OF THE GIRLS TOILETS AND NOW YOU TRUST IT’S OPINION?” 

“YOU MAKE IT SOUND LIKE IT WAS TELLING ME A BEDTIME STORY, NO! IT WAS A MEMORY!” 

“MEMORIES CAN BE TAMPERED WITH!” That shut Harry up, he clearly hadn’t known that. “And even if it is a true memory, that isn’t our PROBLEM!” He shouted the last word for good measure, before collapsing back on the bed. He located his wand and cast a small healing charm for his throat. “Harry.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Give it to Dumbledore.” 

“What?” 

“The book.” 

“Why?” 

“Because it’s the right thing to do. It clearly isn’t just any book, so we should turn it in. Or at least to McGonagall.” 

“...Okay.” Harry’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I’m sorry.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Am I forgiven?” Draco smiled. 

“For being an idiot?” he heard the other boy chuckle. “Yes.” 

*** 

Harry was going to do as Draco said and turn the book in - he really was! He loved Draco more than anyone else, and that meant more to him than a stupid mystery. But he didn’t trust Dumbledore, so after Charms, Harry began to walk in the direction of McGonagall’s office, but an fiery orange blur put a dint in his plans when Ginny Weasley bumped into his side, knocking him to the ground. 

“Oh my gosh! Harry, I’m so sorry!” She was fumbling around, trying desperately to gather her belongings. 

“It’s okay, Ginny!” Harry was trying to be really nice to the girl because he had a strong suspicion that it was she who wrote the song. “It was my fault, I wasn’t looking!” She blushed as red as her hair and rushed off murmuring something about being late. “Okay! Bye then!” 

He continued the journey to McGonagall’s office and rummaged in his bag for the diary, which was now suspiciously gone. His brow furrowed in concentration and did one final sweep of his beg before deciding that it was a lost cause, there wasn’t much he could do anyway. 

“Please don’t tell me you’re keeping it in your secrecy box.” Draco had said later that night. 

“No! I swear, Draco! I think that Ginny girl has it.” 

“Huh. I suppose I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to steal your diary, she’s probably one of those crazy stalker girls who used to follow you around like lost ducklings.” The boy shrugged. “‘Night then, Harry!” 

“‘Night, Draco!” 


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a little short but there's a really cute chapter coming next!!

Harry had almost forgotten his strange power regarding his own fire resistance. With every other strange thing that had happened, he almost didn’t care, speaking to snakes seemed like a bigger deal. However, one night when he was talking to Draco behind the drawn curtains of his Hogwarts bed, the blonde mentioned a moment at Christmas when he had received a snowball in the face from his father, only to find that it felt more like powdered sugar.

“It was strange, it felt tingly.” he shrugged. “And today, it was so hot and I wanted a cold drink, so I got some ice from the kitchens, but the water was still room temperature so I took some ice out of the glass and held it in my hand and it didn’t feel like anything. It was really strange.” 

Harry remembered the fire incident and explained to Draco how he never felt the sun like everyone else did, that he usually didn’t feel any different stepping outside into it’s blinding rays. The other boy bit his lip and reached under Harry’s bed, emerging with the book that Draco had gotten him in first year. He looked up at Harry, unsure. 

“What do we look for?” 

“Umm… try ‘ _Not feeling fire_ ’ first, then we can look up ice.” He tried it, nothing came up but a list of fire protective spells. 

“‘ _Not feeling ice_ ’”Again, the page only showed warming charms. They tried countless combinations, all to no avail. “Maybe I should write to my dads?” 

“Yeah, maybe they’ll understand.” 

*** 

“Oh no.” Remus had just received a note from Draco. “Pads!” he yelled, the man (or dog, rather) was out in the garden jumping over fences. “PADS!” the dog turned around. “Come in!” 

He bounded into the kitchen and transformed. “What’s up, Moony?” 

“They’re asking questions.” 

“Ah shit.” They both took seats next to each other on the sofa while Sirius read the note. 

_Hey! How are things at home? Are you okay after your last transformation, Moony? I know it was a couple of days ago. I’m writing because Harry and I realised something last night, but the book didn’t give us any information. It’s going to sound really strange but, Harry doesn’t feel fire or heat or whatever, and I don’t feel ice? I know, it’s weird - we thought so too. We were just wondering if this is just some side effect from something, or maybe it’s got something to do with the Chamber?_

_Love you two, keep me updated, Your Draco xxxxx_

“Well, now what are we going to do?” 

Sirius pinched the bridge of his nose, a habit he picked up with every letter Draco sent. “Shouldn’t we tell them? Maybe it’s time.” 

“No.” Remus whispered, low and deafening. “They don’t need the burden just yet, let them enjoy being children for just a little longer.” 

They shared a long look and Sirius nodded. Remus knew better than anyone what it felt like to be different from your peers, to have a magical weight on your shoulders. He couldn’t do it to his son, or James and Lily’s for that matter. 

He picked up a quill and penned a reply. 

_Draco, Yes, I am fine. Things are boring without you, though. I literally had to call your father in from outside where he was jumping hurdles as a dog. Regarding yours and Harry’s apparent resistance to these elements, I shouldn’t worry. It is probably just your adolescent magic playing up. If you’re finding it annoying, take this as an opportunity to work on your temperature charms! Lots of love, Moony xxx_

Once he sent the letter off, he turned back to his husband with a weary smile. 

“I feel bad lying to him.” 

“So do I. But you know it’s the right thing to do.” 

“Yeah. I know.” They spent the rest of the morning in a comfortable silence, only breaking it for brief moments to ask the other to pass something, or to suggest telling Dumbledore. They did, around the middle of the afternoon. Not that it made any difference. There was nothing that any of them could do. Just wait for the storm to arrive. 


	15. Chapter Fifteen

The final game of the Quidditch Season was here and Harry was stressed. Draco could see the way that his best friend ran his fingers through his birds nest hair, getting them stuck along the way, and his nail biting habit had reached new lengths, but for the most part, Harry just seemed scared. The boy had a lot on his mind and Flint wasn’t helping in the slightest. With the Quidditch Cup on the line, the team had practise every other night and Harry was being worked harder than he had ever been worked. But the day of the game finally arrived and Draco’s parents came to see.

Remus, Sirius and Draco were all in the stands, watching intently as Harry soared high in the sky, emerald eyes darting this way and that, desperately seeking some glint of gold. The boy had tension between his eyebrows, more concentrated than Draco had ever seen him. 

The game was against Hufflepuff, who had a decent Seeker in Cedric Diggory, who happened to be exceedingly attractive, Draco noted, but he felt sure that Harry could do it. The boy had a natural talent for riding that couldn’t be denied. The second Harry kicked off from the ground, his father’s eyes shone with tears, probably because Harry resembled his father, if it weren’t for the green robes. 

“He’s amazing, isn’t he, Moony?” His father murmured. 

“Better than James, even.” 

“I can’t tell if he’d be proud or irritated.” They shared a light chuckle. It was sad, Draco thought, that he never got to meet Harry’s father. He must have been a wonderful person, judging by the way Sirius and Remus talked about him, and by how Harry turned out. 

Suddenly, Harry’s eyes caught on something, and he sped forward, hurtling towards the ground. 

“HE’S SEEN IT!” 

Cedric followed Harry’s lead and everyone stood up to cheer and get a better look. 

“GO ON HARRY!” The three of them screamed. He was still hurtling, coming closer and closer to the ground, but pulled up, millimetres from the floor. 

“The Wronski Feint!” Sirius exclaimed. “Amazing!” 

Cedric barely missed a crash and was thrown off completely, missing when Harry really saw the Snitch, which was hovering by the tallest goalpost. He set off for it and captured it with ease as the whole of Slytherin screamed in celebration. 

“HARRY! Oh my gosh, we’ve won! WE’VE WON!” Draco cackled and hugged his dads before catching eyes with Harry, who had just landed. The energy in the air was electric. The whole world seemed to still around them, as they stayed locked in each other’s gaze. As if his feet were moving of their own accord, Draco raced down the steps and met Harry on the field. Before he could say a single word, the other boy caught his lips in a searing kiss, a real one. Bigger than the chaste ones they had shared before, it was held for longer, it held more emotion. When they parted, Draco could barely breathe from the intensity of those emerald eyes fixed completely on him, and the rest of the world faded away until it was only them left, standing on an empty field, caught up in the other’s arms. A massive gust of air hit them, causing Harry’s hair to mess up even further, revealing that famous scar. 

“You’re beautiful.” Harry whispered, as though it was a secret only they knew. Draco pressed their foreheads together and focused on their stilted breathing, to calm his pounding heart. It was such a strange sensation, to feel in love. A sensation that Draco never thought he would feel. Sure, his parents were in love, but he always just thought that it was such a rare thing that he would never have it. But he knew then that he could never feel about anyone the way that he felt about Harry in that moment. 

A weight on Draco’s shoulder pulled him out of the moment, and he looked up to see his father’s face peering down at him with a slight smirk. 

“Are you done?” Draco grinned but begrudgingly dislodged himself from Harry’s arms. 

“Sorry, Pads.” 

Remus reached out and messed Harry’s hair up and smiled warmly. “Well done, Harry.” 

“Thanks, Moony.” 

Draco couldn’t be happier with his family. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm considering this their first kiss, I know they've kissed before but I thought this was too epic!!!


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Pansy have a discussion about sexuality and homophobia in the pureblooded wizard community in this chapter just so you know :)

Harry was researching the Chamber of Secrets again, he told Draco that he wouldn’t, but he couldn’t help it. He had little bits of information that floated around his head, but they didn’t match up. Riddle’s diary and the memory, the fact that he could speak Parseltongue, the Chamber being built by Slytherin, himself being the heir of Slytherin. It all seemed to add up but nobody seemed to be doing anything. Also, it had become common knowledge that the gameskeeper, Hagrid, had mysteriously disappeared from school grounds. Nobody had seen him and all of the Professors avoided all questions. It all seemed strange to Harry but he held himself back, not wanting to alarm Draco again, especially after that spectacular kiss on the Quidditch field.

But something happened that stirred him into action, Hermione Granger was Petrified. 

Harry and Draco found out from Pansy Parkinson, who had found out from Blaise Zabini, who had found out from Seamus Finnigan, who had found out from the Gryffindor boys dorm. It wasn’t long before the entire school was whispering about the girl, and Harry felt awful. If he had shared the information he had, or gotten to McGonagall’s office faster, he could have stopped it. Draco reassured him, however, that he shouldn’t blame himself for things that monsters in secret chambers do, but eventually asked Harry if they could go to see her. 

So the boys ducked under the invisibility cloak, once again, and tiptoed into the Hospital Wing, only to find the girl herself, rigid and still, holding a mirror in one hand and a balled up piece of paper in the other. With trembling hands, Draco reached out and pried it from her fingers, flattening it out against the bed. 

“Well that makes a lot of sense, actually.” he whispered. 

“What does?” 

“That Slytherin’s monster is a breed of snake. It just adds up.” 

“I suppose, but does that help in any way?” 

“No, not really. We probably would have known it was a snake without this sheet of paper, but this gives us a heads up.” 

Harry’s head jolted up and he began dissecting his expression with his eyes. “You mean…” 

“Harry, this is an unbelievably stupid idea. But nobody hurts my friends and gets away with it.” 

He grinned. “Are we going to find the Chamber?” 

“Probably not, but we should start trying, anyhow.” 

He couldn’t contain it anymore, Harry leaped into Draco's arms and hugged him. “Amazing.” 

“I know I am.” 

*** 

And so they did. They researched ‘Basilisks’ as much as they could, using the special book, but they didn’t get much more information than the page had already told them, that looking directly into the eyes of a Basilisk would kill you, and looking indirectly would presumably Petrify you. They didn’t tell any teachers about the information because, honestly, it wasn’t difficult for two second years to find out, so it must be obvious to teachers. 

So, over the Easter break, which he was forced to spend at Hogwarts, Harry spent night upon night in the restricted section, all to result in absolutely nothing new. 

He wrote to Draco every day, multiple times a day, but still felt the boy’s loss bitterly. He hadn’t realised quite how much he depended on Draco’s company. Not even because he had nobody else to hang out with, because he did, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson had stayed for the holiday, and they were nice enough, but he missed his friend’s ridiculous giggle that took over his whole body when somebody told a dirty joke, or his witty but insanely accurate comments about people, even the lectures about grades. Still, he was content to enjoy Easter as well as he could, and he did. 

Blaise and Pansy were both really nice, although they did seem a little uncomfortable whenever he mentioned Draco, but Harry had come to expect that from his friends. Although, this ‘uncomfortable’ seemed to spring more from the romantic nature of their relationship, that they had displayed very openly after the Quidditch game last week, rather than the rumours surrounding Draco himself, which was refreshing, if disheartening. Harry was aware of homophobia, Vernon was incredibly offensive about the whole thing, but Harry had grown to disagree with everything his uncle stood for, so it wasn’t difficult for him to accept Remus and Sirius with open arms, and to dive head first into his relationship with Draco, whatever it was. 

It seemed to Harry that their disgust at it was something that they had learned from their parents, as was the case usually, so he spent a lot of time teaching them and it seemed to be working. 

One night in particular, Pansy sat him down and fixed him with an intense glare. 

“Harry, can I ask you something?” 

He immediately dropped his quill and focused fully on the girl. “Sure, go ahead.” 

“Can girls like other girls too?” 

“I don’t see why not!” Harry smiled. “I honestly don’t know enough about it to give you good advice, if you know what I mean.” 

“But…” The girl seemed to be struggling to put her thoughts into words, so Harry gave her time. “You like Draco… romantically…?” 

“Yes. I love him.” He blushed at the memory of Draco’s lips on his own. 

Pansy bit her lip and heaved her cat onto her lap, stroking it absentmindedly. “My mum says that’s wrong.” 

“My uncle used to say that too, but I don’t think it’s true. I don’t really see what the problem is with it, to be honest.” 

“But, it means that you can’t have children!” 

“Remus and Sirius have Draco!” 

“Biological children.” She clarified. 

He shuffled forward. “Does that really matter, though?” 

“Yes!” Pansy cried. “You have to continue the pureblood line!” 

“Oh, so this is about blood.” Harry had heard quite a bit of the blood status debate in his time at Hogwarts and it seemed a little ridiculous. He didn’t know much about magic, but he knew that his mother was a muggle born witch and that she was an incredible witch. He also knew Hermione, who was the smartest in their year, and she was a muggleborn! 

“It’s always about blood in the end.” She choked out, under her breath. 

“Pansy,” The girl looked up, a scared glint in her eyes, Harry softened his voice. “I can’t convince you to turn on your family, but know that you do have that choice. You aren’t your parents.” 

This seemed a new concept for Pansy, who was now staring at the floor with a vacant expression. It didn’t seem like she wanted to continue the conversation so Harry went back to his Herbology homework. 

*** 

Harry was called into Professor McGonagall’s office on the last day of the holiday for some unknown reason, but he sat down in front of her desk with guilt ridden on his face. He was certain that he was in trouble, but her face said otherwise. 

“Mr Potter, how are you?” Her voice was warm and had a comforting edge in the Scottish lilt. 

“I’m good.” He nodded. “I’m sad I didn’t get to spend Easter with Draco’s family, and I don’t really know why I couldn’t, but it’s not that bad.” Something about the fire burning in the heath and the tartan decorations made Harry feel safe, and he wanted to open up to the woman. 

“I’m sorry we can’t tell you, I wish we could.” She reached under her desk and pulled out a tin, which she opened to reveal an array of shortbreads. “Biscuit?” Harry chose one that resembled a dog and nodded to her in thanks. “I wanted to talk to you today because we have to come up with a place for you to go for the first half of the Summer holidays. I must say that when I heard about Dumbledore keeping you with those awful people, I was outraged.” Harry’s eyes widened, he had never heard McGonagall angry at someone who wasn’t a student, to someone who was her boss not less. “It seems that you will be staying at Hogwarts for that period of time, unless we can find someone to take you in. I will be here too, to keep an eye on you.” 

“Thank you, Professor.” They both smiled warmly. He felt infinitely better knowing that he would be under McGonagall’s wing, he trusted her over any other teacher. 


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys!! We're nearing the end, I have so many ideas for PoA! When that comes out, I might start doing uploads every other day, idk we'll see!

When Draco got back, the boys spent every moment that they could in the other’s company, making up for lost time, even if that lost time was only two weeks, but they also dove headfirst into research again. They even enlisted the help of ghosts around the school, but they were little help. All they did was shudder and refuse to comment, even the Bloody Baron, who was known for discussing dark topics with students. They were all but ready to give up hope until Draco suggested that they try Moaning Myrtle, as a last resort.

“Myrtle? But she’s so annoying.” 

“So are you but I still think you’re useful to have around.” 

Harry rolled his eyes. “Har har.” He deadpanned. 

They had it all planned out, they would wait until after dinner on Thursday and would sneak off to the bathroom, where they could interrogate the girl, but it was all interrupted when the magically magnified voice of Minerva McGonagall stopped them in the corridors on the charms. 

_‘All students to return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers return to staff room. Immediately, please.’_

“Do you think there’s been another attack?” asked Draco worriedly. 

“Probably.” Harry watched as his friend set his face in a stony mask. 

“We need to get into the meeting.” 

*** 

“Don’t you think we’ll get into a lot of trouble if we’re caught?” whispered Harry as they were settling themselves in their hiding place, a wardrobe filled with teacher’s coats. 

“Yes.” 

“You don’t seem to care…” 

“No, I don’t.” Draco’s face could freeze oceans, it was scary. 

“Who are you and what have you done with Draco Malfoy?” The other boy rolled his eyes and gestured for the pair to turn their attentions to the teachers filing into the room. McGonagall started the meeting and Harry felt immediately better with her in charge, although her tone was grave. 

“The heir of Slytherin.” she said, face pale. “left another message. Right under the first one. _Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever._ ” 

Flitwick let out a wail. 

“Who is it? Which student?” asked Hooch, who had collapsed into a chair. 

“Ginny Weasley.” 

Harry felt like a clamp was closing around his neck, but Draco paid him no attention. His eyes were seemingly glued to McGonagall, but Harry could see that they were actually glazed over and glassy. 

He wasn’t paying attention to what was being said much anymore. He honestly felt kind of guilty. He knew that Ginny was probably the person who took the dairy, and that the diary was probably quite a dangerous object, and she had been taken into the centre of the Chamber. She could die, all because he didn’t think, even for a second. However, he was shaken out of his thoughts by the loud bang of the door slamming open, to reveal (he sighed) Lockhart. 

“So sorry - dozed off - what have I missed?” Draco also seemed to have come to his senses and was now giving Harry a look that could easily be interpreted as ‘Oh my God what a fucking idiot’, Harry didn’t usually swear, even in his subconscious, but it seemed appropriate in the moment. 

“Just the man,” Snape stepped forward and Harry stifled a giggle at the pure rancour the greasy man was displaying for his fellow ‘Professor’. “The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last.” 

“That’s right, Gilderoy.” said Sprout. “Weren’t you saying just last night that you’ve known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?” 

Lockhart sweating now, uncomfortable at the onslaught. “I - well, I -” 

“Yes, didn’t you tell me that you knew what was inside it?” Flitwick piped up, having now controlled himself. 

“Did I? I don’t recall…” He was properly spluttering. 

“I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn’t had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested -” Snape started. 

“Arrested?” Harry whispered, but Draco shushed him. 

“Didn’t you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?” 

Lockhart stared around at the Professors desperately. “I… I really never… You may have misunderstood… “ 

“We’ll leave you to it, then, Gilderoy,” said McGonagall “Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We’ll make sure everyone’s out of your way. You’ll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself. A free rein at last.” Harry could hear the challenge dripping from her tone and smiled slightly, she was a badass. 

Gilderoy then stammered out some kind of nonsense about getting ready in his office and departed, so Harry and Draco waited until all the other teachers did the same before rushing after him. 

“What are we doing?” Harry whisper-shouted at Draco, who was leading the way. 

“That snot-slurping troll fart isn’t going to get far without the information we have.” 

“But he has it, doesn’t he?” he was panting with the effort of trying to keep up with his friend, who was a surprisingly good runner when he needed to be. “Didn’t he say so? That seems like a pretty big lie.” 

Draco huffed and shook his head ruefully. “If that man knows even the slightest thing about the Chamber of Secrets, I will shave my head.” 

“Oh, please don’t.” 

Once they made it to the Professor’s office, they were both panting, but Harry summed up the energy to pound on his door. They could hear banging and crashing but eventually it opened up to show a sliver of the man’s face. 

“Oh… Mr Potter… Mr Malfoy…” he said, opening the door just a little wider. “I’m rather busy at the moment. if you would be quick… “ 

“Professor, we’ve got some information for you, We think it’ll help you.” Harry piped up. 

“Er - well - it’s not terribly…” He started, but Draco cut him off. 

“Look, sir, time is of the essence here, of which I am sure you are well aware, so we would appreciate it if you would just follow us down the hallway, please and thank you.” With that, the boy turned on his heel and strutted out of the classroom, leaving Harry, who was gazing at him adoringly, with Lockhart, who looked absolutely gobsmacked. 

Harry turned back to look at him with a grin of pride. “Well, you heard him.” He started walking too, checking back a couple of times to ensure the bumbling fool was indeed trailing him. They found Draco in the girls toilets, as Harry had assumed he would be in, deep in an intense conversation with Myrtle, who was lounging carelessly on the windowsill. 

“Myrtle can I ask you a question of a personal nature?” he began, suddenly in stone-cold professional detective mode. 

“Okay…” she didn’t seem very interested, instead paying more attention to her nail beds, which Draco had mentioned were terrible, and hardly looked up to survey the newcomer. 

“How did you die?” It didn’t sound as abrupt as it could have. Draco had an incredible ability to persuade people to do what he wanted them to do, without seeming to try at all. But it seemed to work, as Myrtle’s interest seemed to suddenly pique. She let out a piercing wail and sailed down to meet them. 

“Ooooh, it was dreadful. It happened right in here. I died in this very cubicle. I remember it so well. I’d hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a _boy_ speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then -” the ghost swelled importantly. “I _died_.” 

“How?” asked Harry, but Draco rolled his eyes as if to say ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ and Lockhart looked even more confused than earlier, but this time was trying desperately to school his features into a pensive mask. 

“No idea,” replied Myrtle. “I just remember seeing a pair of great big yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away… and then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she’d ever laughed at my glasses.” 

Harry opened his mouth to ask a question but Draco beat him to it. “Where did you see the eyes, Myrtle?” 

“Somewhere there.” she pointed vaguely towards one of the sinks and both of the boys rushed over it and scanned it for anything unusual. At last, Harry saw it: a tiny snake engraved on the side of one of the copper taps. 

“Draco, here!” he whispered, his friend scooted over and traced it with his finger. 

“Good job, Harry.” 

“That tap’s never worked.” Myrtle piped up. 

“Try saying something to it, Harry. In Parseltongue.” 

He tried, but it was actually quite difficult to speak a language you didn’t even know you could. He tried a couple of times to say ‘Open up’ but Draco always informed him that he was just speaking English. “Pretend it’s a real snake.” That worked better, Harry envisioned it moving and slithering around the tap. 

“ _Open up._ ” he whispered, Draco squeaked, and he himself was startled when what came out his mouth wasn’t English, instead a strange hissing sound. 

The tap glowed with a blinding white light and started to spin, soon after that started, the sink itself began to sink further and further into the ground until it was completely out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, looking like the entrance of a sinister slide. 

“Merlin’s beard!” cried Lockhart, but the boys shushed him, for all they knew, the Heir of Slytherin was down the tunnel. 

“After you, Draco?” Harry grinned mischievously. 

“Why, thank you, kind sir.” giggled Draco as he prepared for his descent. “Wish me luck!” With that, he was gone, leaving Harry with a Lockhart who seemed to be calculating his next move. 

“Down you go!” he said, brightly, to his Professor’s shock. 

“I really don’t think you need me! I’ll just be off!” The man tried to jiggle the doorknob, but it seemed stuck, so Harry leapt up and dragged him by his hideous blue coattails until he was sitting, with his legs dangling, in the tube. 

“See you at the bottom!” said Harry, as he gave him a push. He then waited a few seconds for his teacher to reach the bottom, although he didn’t know exactly where that would be, and allowed himself to slide down too, for that was what it really was, a slide. A strange, dark and murky slide, but a slide all the same. He could just make out the murky walls and other paths branching out in different directions. He didn’t have much time to wonder if the landing would be painful, as the tube levelled out and he was spouted out the bottom on a grimy floor. 


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just finished CoS, staring PoA - very exciting stuff

Harry was helped to his feet by Draco, who gave him the once over for any injuries, before allowing him to survey his surroundings. It looked exactly how he would have pictured an evil lair to look, dark, slimy, probably filled with too many germs to be kept under a bathroom, there were even rat skulls dotted around like some kind of ironic decoration. Wands held high, the boys started to make their way down the tunnel and jumped at the sight of the largest snake skin they had ever seen. It was at least twenty feet long and resembled a real one in a horrific way.

“Bloody hell.” Draco groaned quietly. There was a thud and both of them turned around to find that Lockhart had dropped to his knees. They rushed forward to help him but backed away as he seemed to be grasping for his wand, threateningly. 

“The adventure ends here, boys! I shall take a bit of this skin up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you two tragically lost your minds at the sight of her -” 

“And how are you going to explain why you let us be here, genius?” asked Draco, snarkily, as he raised his own wand in defiance, Lockhart seemed a little confused but did his best to remain strong. “I doubt any of the teachers would like the fact that you brought two minors into the Chamber of Secrets with you to fight a monster you ‘have known about this whole time’. As a matter of fact, I think my dads would sue you for all you’re worth, so drop the wand, psycho.” The Professor’s eyes widened and he lowered the wand just a little, but still had it ready to be raised. “Oh for Merlin’s sake, Harry, help me out.” 

Harry smiled excitedly and raised his wand to quickly disarm his Professor, before looking over at Draco who was casting some spell Harry didn’t know. 

“ _Confundo._ ” His friend commanded, and he watched in awe at Lockhart, who seemed to be utterly confused. 

“Where am I? Why am I here? Who brought me here? Where’s my wand? What’s a wand, why did I just say that?” He continued listing questions until Draco guided him to the slide and softly told him that he should stay put and really try to answer those questions. Draco turned back to Harry with a signature eye roll and gestured for them to continue, he could never fail to be in absolute awe of his friend. 

“Where did you learn that?” 

“Moony taught it to me over Easter, he said it was good for self defence. I don’t know how long it will last so we have to be quick.” 

The pair stopped when they reached the end of the tunnel and marvelled at the spectacle before them. The wall was engraved with two snakes, intertwined, each having an emerald glinting as it’s eye. 

“What do we do now?” Draco whispered, but Harry already knew. And he didn’t have to pretend the snakes were real this time, either, something about their bejeweled eyes seemed alive. 

“I’m going to open this, and I want you to go back, Draco.” 

“No.” The boy turned and faced Harry with a petulant glare, it was clear that he was not going anywhere. 

“I don’t want you to get hurt!” 

“Screw that, I am going to be there with you, at your side.” Draco breathed heavily, teeth clenched. “You can’t stop me.” 

Harry began to mull this over before he reminded himself that Ginny was waiting and that he didn’t have the time. “Fine.” He turned to the snakes again. “ _Open._ ” 

*** 

The Chamber was dark and eerie, with stone pillars lining the walls. At the opposing end, there was a statue of some kind of monkey man with a really long beard, probably Salazar Slytherin, Draco deduced. He looked over at Harry who was taking his surroundings in with heavy breaths until the stopped abruptly and his eyes lay on a small heap at the foot of the statue. 

“Ginny.” he muttered as he rushed over to kneel by her side. 

“Is she okay?” asked Draco from behind him. 

“I don’t know, she doesn’t look it.” 

“Oh no…” he moaned, but out of the corner of his eye he could see a figure by one of the pillars. He flipped around, wand held high, running through every spell he had taught himself in the past year. Before he could demand the boy’s identity, he spoke softly to Harry alone. 

“She won’t wake.” 

Harry’s head flipped around to survey who spoke and then displayed surprising familiarity with him. “Tom - Tom Riddle?” 

Draco gasped as the man nodded, why did that name sound familiar? 

“What d’you mean, she won’t wake? She’s not - she’s not -?” 

“She’s still alive, but only just.” Something about this ‘Tom’ person seemed off to Draco. He had seen that glint that he had in his eyes too many times and it brought back too many memories he would prefer to remain in the past. Harry seemed blissfully unaware of it, though, probably because of his inhumane good-looks which made Draco feel a small pang of jealousy, especially over those curls which were honestly swoon worthy. 

“Are you a ghost?” Harry asked, uncertainly. 

“A memory, preserved in a diary for fifty years.” Okay, this seemed really shady. 

“Harry, I think we should go.” Draco started, glancing back at his friend, but Tom interrupted him before he could go on. 

“And you.” The man’s steely gaze was fixed on him now. “Draco Malfoy. Death Eater spawn, child of legend. I have been looking for you, too.” 

Draco prickled at the Death Eater comment but revelled in the knowledge that the scary man’s attention was away from his Harry. “Why?” 

“Why? My boy, don’t you know?” After what he had seen in the Mirror last year, Draco was sure that he didn’t want to know, and that the incidents were related. 

“No.” he said, voice quiet and trembling. “I don’t know.” 

Riddle smirked and surveyed him as though he were some complicated puzzle. “Fascinating. All that power and what do they do with it?” he chuckled. “Classic Dumbledore. You know what? I don’t think I will tell you, I think I’ll keep the satisfaction of knowing that Dumbledore failed. That if he had been honest with you from the beginning, you could have stood a fighting chance against me.” 

Now Harry was standing up and behind Draco. “Against you? Tom, we didn’t come to fight!” 

“Oh, but I did.” 

“Where’s my wand?” Harry whispered as he patted down his pockets, but Draco looked up to see it being twirled with Riddle’s long, slender fingers. “Shit.” 

“Would you like me to explain it to you two?” said Tom, condescendingly. “Do you need my help figuring it out?” 

“I’m guessing that you have been using the diary brainwash people?” Draco suggested, getting slightly sidetracked by the puzzle of it all. “Ginny found it so she wrote in it, and you showed her memories, is that right?” 

“Not quite, Draco,” Riddle clicked his tongue. “Close, though, very close. You see, little Ginny here opened the Chamber, and wrote all of the messages on the wall, and Petrified all those Mudbloods.” Harry gasped and Tom smiled maniacally at him, it was understandable why. Draco usually found Harry’s wide-eyes innocence adorable, but it was more comical at a time like this. “Don’t worry, Harry, she wasn’t aware that she was doing any of it. After I would possess her to do things, she would have large gaps in her memory. She would wake up with feathers all over her clothes or blood on her hands.” He opened his mouth as if to continue but Draco interrupted him, he always had had a problem with interruption. 

“Isn’t that kind of stupid, though?” 

Riddle looked taken aback. “What?” he squawked. 

“Well, if you didn’t want her to get suspicious, why didn’t you clean up after you’d done everything? Wash the blood off her hands? It seems like a pretty necessary precaution!” Draco breathed slightly before continuing. “And why did you choose her? A first year is understandable, but she’s a pureblood! With a lot of people looking out for her, why would you take that risk? What was your goal?” 

“Harry was my goal!” he yelled. “And you, of course!” 

“Okay, so you wanted her to get suspicious?” They were actually arguing, now, it was comical. Draco did have a terrible habit of getting too heated and talking back to his superiors, but as far as he was concerned, this was just a memory of some man who had done some horrible things. How dangerous could a memory be? 

“It doesn’t matter about Ginny!” he snapped and took a deep, calming breath. “The point is, she did stop trusting the diary and tried to flush it, which was where you came in, Harry.” He turned his eyes to said boy. “I showed you the memory of me capturing the great oaf, Hagrid.” 

“Hagrid is a good man, you framed him.” Harry accused. 

“It wasn’t that hard, actually, it was my word against his.” said Tom, flippantly. “Who would believe a half-breed who constantly got himself into trouble for keeping illegal magical pets over sweet, hard working, down-on-his-luck Tom Riddle? Although, Dumbledore never did trust me. He hired Hagrid as a gamekeeper, didn’t he? Honestly, I'm surprised it was only him who suspected me! It took me five years to learn everything I could about the Chamber and find the entrance, that idiotic half-breed couldn’t have done that! I realised that it wouldn’t be safe to open it again while I was still in school so I preserved my sixteen-year-old self in the pages, so that I could lead someone else down the path and continue Salazar Slytherin’s noble work.” 

“Why haven’t you killed anyone yet?” asked Draco, suspiciously. “I bet you could’ve.” 

“Yes, I could’ve, Draco. But my object isn’t to kill muggleborns anymore, it’s to kill you two. And, just my luck, you’ve wandered into my web.” He held up his hands triumphantly as if to show off the room, it was sick. “You see, Ginny saw her ickle crush, Harry, with her diary! Her fascination with you, Harry, was interesting, actually. Hogwarts resident good boy turned bad, the saviour they all thought they had, best friends with Death Eater spawn? Her family were cautious before, but then, as I learned when she got the book back, the object of her affections was a Parseltongue! Possibly the Heir of Slytherin! How interesting! And from what I knew about you already, I realised that you would go to any lengths to solve the mystery, and that you would bring your boyfriend with you.” 

“Who are you?” Harry growled, teeth bared. 

“Haven’t you guessed yet?” He lifted his wand and traced it through the air, leaving behind three shimmering words. 

_TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE_

Draco then watched unblinkingly, mouth dry with horror, as he rearranged the letters to spell out something else. 

_I AM LORD VOLDEMORT_


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter!! You excited for PoA?

“You see?” he whispered. “I am your greatest fear, Harry Potter. I was already using it at Hogwarts, amongst my most intimate friends. I wasn’t going to keep my filthy, muggle father’s name, who hated my mother simply because she was a witch, forever. So I fashioned myself a new name, one that witches and wizards alike would be afraid of saying out loud, for I became the greatest sorcerer in the world.”

Draco didn’t know what to say. For the first time in his life, he was truly paralysed with fear. But Harry spoke up for him. 

“You’re not.” he whispered, hatred carving his words. 

“Not what?” 

“Not the greatest sorcerer in the world. If you were, you wouldn’t have been killed by a baby.” Draco was astonished at his friend, for saying such things to Voldemort himself. Of course, he had been a little snarky to the man before, but he didn’t know who he was dealing with then. “And anyway, even though he has made some questionable decisions, Albus Dumbledore is still a more powerful wizard than you. Even when you were at your peak, you didn’t try to take over Hogwarts, because you knew that you’d fail.” 

Riddle’s cool expression was now replaced with a hideous grimace. “Dumbledore’s been driven out of this castle by the mere _memory_ of me!” 

“Knowing Dumbledore, he’s not as gone as you might think.” Draco seemed confused at that statement, the man’s track record actually proved otherwise, but he assumed that Harry was simply trying to scare Riddle. It didn’t matter, anyway, for their attention was drawn to a strange, eerie music that seemed to be playing from nowhere, and it seemed to be getting more and more intense. Draco felt strange, light and shaky. It was getting difficult to focus on the mass murderer standing next to them until flames erupted from the top of one of the pillars, ending the melody. 

The flames fell to reveal a crimson bird the size of a swan, carrying a bundle of what looked like old clothes. It swooped down, dropped the heap at Harry’s feet, and landed on Harry’s shoulder. 

“That’s a phoenix.” Riddle breathed, staring at it confusedly. 

“Astute.” quipped Draco, before realising what he had just done, but the memory didn’t seem to have heard him, or didn’t seem to care, as he was gazing down at the heap of clothes in bemusement. 

“Is that the Sorting Hat?” he asked, incredulously. It was, the old thing looked decrepit and used but it was still the same hat. Draco wondered briefly where these things came from, but immediately answered his own question: Dumbledore. Harry had shown faith in the man, and he had been known for rewarding those who are loyal. Riddle cackled. “This is what Dumbledore sends his defenders! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, boys? Do you feel safe now?” 

Draco was beginning to get frustrated. If this person was going to kill them, why hadn't they done it already? It seemed a little ridiculous that he was dragging it out so much. 

“Before we get started, I would like to ask you some questions, Harry Potter.” Tom sauntered forward, eyeing Harry like prey, but never getting close enough to touch. “Twice - in your past, in my future - we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk, the longer you and your little friend will survive.” 

What was this person waiting for? Draco noticed his edges becoming more defined, more real. Perhaps he was waiting for that, to be a fully fledged person, before taking them on. He was getting the life from Ginny, so what they needed to do was kill him in order to get her back, right? But he was going to put up a fight, and he had a Basilisk on his side. They didn’t stand a chance. 

But Harry seemed to be thinking on his feet. “... You’re a wreck! You’re barely alive. That’s where all your power got you. You’re hiding. You’re ugly, you’re foul!” 

Riddle seemed pleased, Harry must have told him how he survived, something Draco didn’t even know. He probably should have been listening, but he was more concerned about their impending deaths. What in Dumbledore’s name were they going to do with a Phoenix and the Sorting Hat? Draco ran through everything he knew about Phoenixes in his head; regeneration, immense strength, song, healing tears, he supposed those would be useful. But he couldn’t think of anything about the Sorting Hat, as far as he was aware, all it did was sit in Dumbledore’s office writing cryptic songs all year, it could hardly be a good weapon in a duel. Unless they wanted to sort Tom Riddle again, they were basically screwed. And the snake was on its way, Draco could feel it in it’s bones. 

Riddle started hissing and speaking to something that Draco couldn’t see and the sinking feeling in his stomach grew. Harry’s face was as pale as death but they held onto each other’s hands with an iron grip. They both turned their heads up, however, to see the face of the statue moving, opening its mouth wider and wider. They both backed up until their backs hit the wall and Fawkes flew away to somewhere Draco couldn’t see, Harry had his eyes closed so he followed suit, realising how stupid he was to have kept them open for so long. There was a thud as something big hit the floor of the Chamber: the Basilisk had arrived. 

Riddle hissed again. 

“Run, Draco!” said Harry, in a panicked undertone. 

“I love you, Harry.” 

“I love you too.” It felt too much like goodbye, but they didn’t have the time for much more. Draco lifted their intertwined hands to his face and kissed the back of Harry’s before he let go and ran, arms out in front of him, feeling around. Suddenly, they hit a wall and he backed himself into a corner, heart beating so loud it could break out of his chest. He held up his hand like a visor and peeked at the scene ahead. Thankfully, the creature was facing the other way and all he could see was it’s gargantuan body. Thick and green like a tree trunk, and scaly too. 

He didn’t see quite how they would make it out alive. 

He thought of his dads, how they begged him not to do anything stupid, he thought of Ginny, who only wanted a friend to confide in, he thought of Harry, his wonderful, sweet, genuinely good Harry, who just didn’t know when to stop. Who only wanted to help people. 

His train of thought was shattered by an ear-splitting cry coming from the Basilisk. Draco looked closer, both of the terrifying amber eyes had been punctured by what was apparently the Phoenix. He grinned and ran over to where Harry was standing, which was in one of the corners, ducked out of the way. Riddle seemed to be yelling at the beast in its native tongue, all to little avail. 

“This fight suddenly became easier.” Draco whispered. Honestly, with his sight back, Draco felt as though they actually had somewhat of a chance, even if it was still slim. Began running through all of the spells he had learned, none of which seemed powerful enough to take down a beast of this size. Harry, however, seemed to be trying on the hat. “What are you doing?” 

“I don’t know I’m just hoping it will help us- _oh!_ ” Harry’s eyes widened. “What is that?” He took the hat down from his head and revealed the ruby-encrusted hilt of what looked like a sword. Curiously, Draco watched as the boy grasped it and revealed the most gorgeous piece of weaponry he had ever seen. 

“How did that happen?” Draco asked in wonder, but they didn’t have time. Harry geared himself up for battle, as the snake had finally decided to ignore the Phoenix. Out of sheer curiosity, Draco reached out and placed the hat on his head. After a few seconds, something heavy hit his head also, and he pulled out a bow, accompanied by a dozen arrows. All were made with some kind of dark wood, so dark it was almost black, and were encrusted with shimmering emeralds, exactly like the ones on the serpents at the entrance to the Chamber. He looked up to see Harry smiling down at him with twinkling eyes. 

“Let’s go fight a Basilisk, shall we?” Draco grinned in response and set up his pose, as Harry raced forward. It actually wasn’t that difficult to learn how to use the bow and arrow, it was probably bewitched with some kind of magic that prevented you from being bad at it, for it only took one failed aim to finally get the hang of it. After one failed shot, he actually managed to get one on the creature’s underbelly, buried deep. The arrows were clearly sharp. 

The Basilisk flailed around in pain, thrashing and crashing into stone pillars, knocking them over. But Harry seemed to use this to his advantage, randomly swinging at it, missing it completely for the most part. That was, until he seemed to use the rest of his strength to plunge the sword into the roof of the beast's mouth, and getting one long, poisonous fang speared into his forearm in the process. 

Draco rushed over and tugged him away from the dying snake until they both collapsed onto the stony, cold floor of the Chamber. While the sword was still in the Basilisk, the bow and it’s arrows lay forgotten a few metres away from them. 

He was beyond words. The wound looked really bad, the fang had splintered when the basilisk collapsed, even when Draco removed it, the damage was already done. Hot tears were streaming down his face, they were so close. He couldn’t contain the jerking sobs as he took in Harry’s emerald eyes for what he feared would be the final time. He wanted to tell him that he loved him, but couldn’t quite get out the words. All he could do was keep repeating the word ‘Harry’ like a prayer. 

“It’s okay, Draco.” the boy soothed, stroking Draco’s hair and tilting their foreheads together. 

The Phoenix swooped down, perched itself on Harry’s leg and seemed to cry. Wait - no - it actually was crying, golden tears. Draco watched in disbelief - healing tears, how could he have forgotten? 

“You’re dead, Harry Potter. Dead. Even Dumbledore’s bird knows it. Do you see what he’s doing, Potter? He’s crying.” Draco knew about Phoenixes from Moony, who kept up to date with most magical creatures. They also visited the Scamanders once, which was an eventful experience. But he was shocked, overall, that Tom Riddle, or Voldemort himself, didn’t know about the Phoenix Tears. Harry clearly didn’t either because he looked as though he was writing his will in his head. But Draco daren’t say anything now, for fear that Riddle would overhear. He was still rambling on about his defeat of the Boy Who Lived, when Draco noticed something by the Phoenix’s feet - the diary. 

He didn’t know quite what he was doing, only that he should. He hated that book with every fibre of it’s being and it deserved what was coming for it. Draco reached for the fang that he had just tossed aside with one hand, and the book with the other. Harry’s wound was almost cleared, and Riddle seemed completely unaware. 

Without second thought, Draco plunged the fang deep into the cover of the book, where it seemed to bleed ink. Riddle screamed so he dug it in deeper, and deeper until there was a hole in the centre. He looked up to see Harry, healthy and miraculously alive, and the man who had tormented them all year, gone in a piercing scream. 

The only noises left now in the Chamber, was the heavy breathing of the two boys, the steady drip of excess ink falling to the ground, and a faint moan coming from the direction of Ginny, as she stirred. 


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last chapter!!! hope you guys enjoyed it <3

Sirius and Remus were probably… what would be the best word for it? ‘Livid’ wouldn’t quite cover it. For Dumbledore hadn’t quite kept his promise. The Chamber was a danger to students, and Harry and Draco were very much involved.

“I feel like I have aged twenty years in the last two alone.” Sirius moaned as he collapsed into a chair hastily conjured by Dumbledore. 

“But you still look so young, Mr Black.” the old man replied, eyes twinkling. 

“Professor, I don’t understand, why didn’t you tell us? We had a deal!” demanded Remus, slamming his hands on the desk. 

“Well, I didn’t think that they would get involved! I was away on business! I sent the order to close down the school, I didn’t know they were doing research!” he held his hands up in the air innocently and looked up at his former student from his seat. 

“I would bet everything I own that you did!” Sirius snapped. It had been a long day. Remus had just gotten back from a particularly bad transformation and work had been rough lately, the last thing they needed was an owl from their ex-headmaster telling them that their son and his friend had killed a full sized Basilisk that was living in a Chamber underneath the school. 

He genuinely felt that Beauxbatons would be a good idea for Draco, or maybe Ivermorny, he would like America, but Moony was set against it, although Sirius didn’t know how he’d feel after this meeting. 

Said meeting went on for a while. It was mostly filled with arguing, a chair or two was broken, but there came a dip in the conversation when they started talking about what exactly happened. 

“Professor Lockhart was left behind, while they did all the actual fighting, as far as I can tell, held under a surprisingly strong Confundus Charm, cast by Mr Malfoy. He says it was an act of self-defense, but we are unsure, Gilderoy doesn’t seem like the type to attack students.” Dumbledore had his hands clasped in front of him in a pensive gesture, elbows resting on the desk. 

“Is he okay?” 

“Yes, he has made a full recovery, and should be back to teaching next year!” 

Remus’s head perked up. “I’m sorry, sir, but that’s ridiculous!” 

“Excuse me?” 

“That man is thoroughly incompetent!” he exclaimed. “Aside from the fact that he must have tried to attack my son, Draco wouldn’t lie, he was a completely useless teacher! Surely you know about that, Dumbledore!” 

“Do you have a better suggestion?” 

“Yes, me.” Remus snapped his mouth shut immediately after speaking, eyes wide. “Not me! Not me, specifically. But I have some friends, maybe someone in the Order?” He was stuttering adorably and the corners of Sirius’s mouth seemed to quirk upwards of their own accord. 

“You should do it, Moony.” he murmured, lovingly. 

“What?” 

“You should do it, you’d be amazing.” 

Dumbledore _hmm_ ed in thought. “Do you have a resume, Mr Lupin?” 

Moony opened his mouth in protest and looked around incredulously. “B - but I can’t! I’d be putting the students in danger!” 

“Not if we get Professor Snape to brew you some Wolfsbane, I’m sure he’d be happy to oblige!” 

“Yeah, I’m sure he will.” Sirius huffed sarcastically. Everyone ignored him. 

“Dumbledore, I don’t think that’s a good idea! Everyone knows about it, I don’t think it will ease the parent’s minds.” Remus sighed. Sirius really did feel sorry for him, he really did love teaching and it would make keeping an eye on Draco and Harry a lot easier. 

“I can assure them that you’re on a steady dodge of Wolfsbane, I’m sure they’ll be understanding.” Dumbledore leant back in his chair. “They’ll be glad their children will be getting a better education.” 

“Really, I don’t know about this.” 

“If the parents were in support, would you be more willing?” the old wizard probed. 

“I suppose, but I don’t think they will be!” 

“Maybe more so when they find out that your son just saved the whole school because you taught him how!” 

“But I didn’t!” said Remus. “I didn’t do anything, that was all him!” 

“But they don’t know that.” 

Sirius eyed his husband. “Moons,” he called quietly, attracting the attention of the man. “I think you should do it. Imagine, you could change the way that people view werewolves! You can give these kids a good education, please say you’ll think about it!” 

The man bit his lip and furrowed his brows, a sign that he was thinking hard. It took a few moments before he answered. “I’ll think about it.” he said, quiet as a mouse, before turning to Dumbledore and speaking in a harsh voice. “You need to make sure that the parents are comfortable with it, though.” 

“I promise.” 

“Yeah, you’ve made promises before.” 

*** 

Harry and Draco were lying next to each other on Draco’s bed, staring up at the ceiling, slowly processing the events of the previous night, when the door slammed wide open to reveal their head of house glaring at them thunderously. They both sat up to talk to him properly, but he didn’t stay very long. 

“Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office.” he snapped. “Be quick.” With that, he exited in a flurry of black robes. 

Silently, the boys slipped on their shoes and started swiftly walking down the hall, hand in hand. Since they left the Chamber, no more than three words had been spoken between them, by silent agreement, but they held each other tight and close, not allowing the other to go anywhere without them, except to the toilet every now and then. 

When they were finally in their headmaster’s office, both of them rushed forward to be embraced by Moony and Pads, who were already in there, waiting for them. Draco couldn’t stop himself from crying in relief, he didn’t think he would ever see his dads again. 

“Moony, Pads, I missed you.” he cried, as Harry silently burrowed closer, allowing himself to be fully sheltered by his family. 

Pads and Moony just held them tighter, whispering words of comfort when necessary, but mostly just revelling in the feeling of having their boys back in their arms. 

Draco felt truly warm for the first time in a while, after being so cold for so long. 

They stayed in that hug for a very long time, and Dumbledore thankfully didn’t interrupt. But it got sweaty at one point and it just wasn’t as lovable anymore, so they separated, but stayed close as they sat themselves down on a plush sofa, conjured by Moony. 

“Boys,” he started. “we understand that you may not want to relive it all again, but do you have any questions you’d like to ask us? It must have been very confusing.” His voice was smooth and comforting, like honey, and made Draco feel safe. 

He looked directly at Harry, who seemed to be a little emotional, so he took the lead himself. “I am confused about a lot of things.” he said, in a quiet voice. “I’m assuming it was Dumbledore who sent the hat and the Phoenix, but why were we able to pull weapons out of it? I pulled out a bow and some arrows, and Harry pulled out a sword.” 

Sirius and Remus shared a look. “Yes, Dumbledore did tell us that had happened. He has them over there actually.” Pads gestured to the said wizard’s desk. “The Sorting Hat apparently gives weapons to true members of the founders' houses. So, Harry is a true Gryffindor, because he got the sword of Godric Gryffindor, and Draco, you are a true Slytherin, because you got the bow and arrows of Salazar Slytherin, do you see?” 

Draco and Harry calmly walked over to the desk and surveyed the instruments. They were exquisite. Engraved along the blade of the sword were the words ‘Godric Gryffindor’, and along the side of the bow were the words ‘Salazar Slytherin’, each of them were encrusted with jewels the size of eggs, that glittered in the midday sun. 

“Do Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw have items too?” Harry asked. 

“Probably.” Remus answered. “We were only aware of the sword up until last night, though.” 

“But I’m a Slytherin.” 

“But it seems you are a Gryffindor also.” spoke a voice from the door. They all turned around to see the headmaster, smiling slightly, eyes twinkling. Behind him was Professor McGonagall, looking as stern as ever. “I have just come back from meeting with the Weasley family. They would like to thank you two for saving their daughter, young Ginny should make a full recovery.” 

“They would also like,” said McGonagall, stepping forward. “to tell you, Harry, that they would be very happy for you to stay with them in the holidays, that is, if you would like to?” 

Harry didn’t quite know what he wanted, it had been so hectic, his mind was buzzing. He didn’t know the Weasley family very well at all, and he had been looking forward to spending three weeks with McGonagall, who had since alluded to their having a few Quidditch matches. Still, Hogwarts wasn’t really as magical as it was before, and he could do with a break. 

“Can I think about it?” 

The witch smiled comfortingly. “Of course you can, dear.” 

*** 

Everyone carried on talking for a long time, there was a lot to process. But it finally ended when Harry and Draco’s stomachs started rumbling and the time for the feast had arrived. They said their goodbyes and made their way to the door, but it slammed open before they could reach it, revealing two stocky wizards, who greatly resembled Crabbe and Goyle, and a tiny elf. 

“Dobby?” He looked awful, bless him, arms wrapped in bandages, tears filling those tennis-ball eyes but never falling. 

“Good evening, Vincent, Gregory.” greeted Dumbledore, ever politely. 

“The governors suspended you, Dumbledore.” the taller one started. 

“What are you doing back?” continued the shorter, stockier man. 

“You see, the ten other governors contacted me and asked for me back.” stated the headmaster. “They were under the impression that Arthur Weasley’s daughter was dead, and they felt that I was the best man for the job.” 

“Dumbledore was suspended?” Draco whispered to Harry in an undertone. 

“I suppose so.” They both knelt down to Dobby’s level and tried to catch his eye as the conversation continued around them. “Are you okay, Dobby?” asked Harry. 

“I is good, Harry Potter sir, you is very kind.” The creature looked truly shattered. 

“What do we do, Draco?” 

The blonde thought for a moment before sitting fully on the floor and removing a singular sock. “Okay, Harry, here’s what we’re going to do…” He went on and listed the plan. It was complicated, but Harry felt sure that it would work. He peeked inside the gaping pockets of the stockier man’s coat, inside was an old quill, a jar of some unknown, icky substance, and a pouch. _Perfect._ He carefully weaved his hand into it, slowly so as not to arouse suspicion, and slid it out. 

They opened it to reveal some sickles and a few knuts, but ignored them in favour of carefully folding up the sock and making sure it was secure. 

“Alight,” Draco whispered. “Do you want to do it, or shall I?” 

“I’ll do it, I know Dobby better than you do.” 

“Good luck.” 

They stood up, with the pouch behind their backs, just as the two men were leaving. They shared a quick smirk before Harry caught up with them in the corridor. 

“Excuse me, sir, I think you dropped this.” He held out the purse to the stockier man and smiled innocently. 

The man sneered. “Damn pickpocket.” He snatched it away and tossed it to Dobby. “Check that he hasn’t stolen anything, elf.” 

Harry waited anxiously as Dobby opened the bag. “Master has given Dobby a sock, master gave it to Dobby.” The elf held the slimy thing as though it were some priceless treasure. 

“What?” The Crabbe look-alike snapped. 

“Dobby has got a sock,” said Dobby in disbelief. “Master even put it in a pouch for Dobby! Dobby is free!” 

*** 

“We’ll miss you, Harry.” said Draco as he finally came up from the hug. 

“I’ll miss you guys, too.” Harry grinned. “See you in three weeks!” 


End file.
